Eve of Evolution
by VictorLincolnPine
Summary: This story centers around Eve, a seemingly ordinary Eevee that is looking for her friend Eric, a Vulpix. But in the process of looking for him, Eve will find that she is so much more... I will publish this story once a month starting now, if it ends up late or early please know that each chapter will post at most one month from the previous one.
1. The Drama Begins

Eevees

Of all the Pokémon, they are considered the oddest and most versatile specie, able to evolve many different ways into many different elements.

Though, like all Pokémon, they cannot return to their original form.

However, there was one Eevee that made an exception to that rule, and in being such was predestined at birth to embark on the grandest adventure ever begun by any Eevee.

Before, or since…

We begin our story in the spring, some time after the adventures of Ash and his friends had long past into legend.

Somewhere in the Viridian forest near Pallet Town, a young Eevee has just awoken, and is now climbing out of her den to search for food; as she has been doing for two years now.

"OK, first order of business: I have to find Eric; he usually knows where the good food is." The Eevee said to herself,

This particular Eevee liked to talk to folks, as talking to people helped her wrap her mind around difficult problems and elusive memories, but when there was no one else to talk to, simply speaking aloud did the trick.

The Eevee made her way over to her friend Eric`s den; it was on the other side of a clearing that was near her own den.

"Hey, Eric, you awake yet?!" The Eevee shouted as she neared his den.

A few minutes later a sleepy Vulpix climbed out.

"Oh, hi Eve," the Vulpix said while brushing the sleep out of his eyes, "you`re early."

"I`m not that early Eric, the sun`s been up for a while now," Eve said; if the Eevee was anything, she was a morning person, "come on, Eric, I`m hungry, let`s find some food!" She said as she started to jump around impatiently.

"Just give me a moment to wake up, OK?" Eric said, slightly annoyed and still tired; he liked Eve, but sometimes she was a bit pushy.

Then he stretched his legs and shook the ash out of his fur; he often padded his den with soft ash because it was clean and being a fire Pokémon, easy to procure.

After Eric finished stretching, they both went off into the forest in search of food.

The meal for today was a sleeping Pidgey.

Problem was, the Pidgey happened to be some ways up a large tree, just barely out of reach.

"How are we going to get it down?" Eve asked.

"I could use Confuse Ray." Eric suggested.

"But then the bird will just sit there and not come down," Eve mentioned, "I know: I could use Take Down on the tree!" She exclaimed in a bit of a yelling whisper.

"But then the bird will just fly away," Eric pointed out, "and then you would get hurt for no reason" He added; it pained him greatly to see Eve hurt for any reason, but he understood the logic behind Take Down, as well as its cons.

"I know; we could use our moves together!" They both said to each other at the same time.

After Eve got a running start and Eric made sure that the Pidgey did not know they were there, they made their move: Eric shot a Confuse Ray right between the Pidgey`s eyes, and soon after, Eve struck the tree with Take Down as hard as she could, causing the dazed bird to fall to the ground and get knocked unconscious.

Then Eve finished it off with a Bite; then Eve and Eric ate fried Pidgey, courtesy of Eric`s Embers.

After their meal, Eve went off to find a health Berry to heal the bruise she got from using Take Down, leaving Eric to clean up by burning the Pidgey`s remnants down to a fine powdery ash.

Some distance away, Eve found what she was looking for: a small Berry tree with a few ripe ones conveniently within reach.

Three Berries later she was fully healed started to make her way back.

But when she was halfway there, she heard a commotion in Eric`s direction and saw the flare of his Ember as if he were defending himself.

Immensely worried about her friend, Eve broke into a run; periodically using Quick-Attack to go faster.

The Eevee got there in a flash of a second, but even then she was too late.

Eve saw a ten year old girl standing where Eric was; she was holding an odd looking orb and dancing for joy; a blue turtle with a big tail was celebrating alongside her which Eve instantly recognized as a Squirtle.

"I got a Vulpix! I got a Vulpix!" The girl sang over and over again; periodically looking at the orb with a smile on her face, as if it were an object of great value.

"What kind of Pokémon is that, and why is it holding that strange orb; and where`s Eric!?" Eve asked herself. "Maybe that Squirtle knows?" She mused.

Then she decided to raise her voice and ask the blue turtle these questions, but Eve hadn`t even gotten to speaking when the Squirtle noticed her and alarmed his master.

"Mary, Mary, there`s an Eevee over there!" the Squirtle said.

Even though Mary didn`t understand the language of the Pokémon, she got the point.

"A Vulpix and an Eevee in the same place, this is the best day ever," The girl shouted with glee, "quick, Tort, hit it with Water Gun!" She ordered her Squirtle.

Without another word, the Squirtle obeyed the order and spat a sharp stream of water at Eve`s side.

Caught unawares, Eve took a direct hit and was knocked on the ground by the painful shot.

Eve quickly regained her bearings and got back on her feet.

"Tort, now`s your chance, Tackle it!" The girl ordered.

But before the Squirtle could respond, Eve charged it with Quick-Attack, causing the blue turtle fly backwards a few feet from the momentum of the heavy blow.

Then, not wanting to let the turtle have a chance to regain its footing, Eve charged at it with Take Down to finish it off.

But the Squirtle had already regained its bearings and dodged out of the way; Eve kept going and struck a stone that was behind the turtle, cracking it in two with the immense force of her attack.

"Tort, finish it off with another Water Gun!" The girl ordered.

Obeying the order, the Squirtle turned around and fired another steam of water.

Eve turned around just in time to see the shot heading right toward her.

She braced herself, thinking this would be her end…

But nothing happened.

After a moment, Eve opened her eyes and saw that everything had suddenly stopped moving, herself included, yet she was aware of everything's apparent lack of movement.

The only thing that was moving was the sharp stream of water that was inches from her, and even then at a sharply reduced pace.

When it eventually made contact it did not strike her like the last one, it instead phased right into her; in response, the area that the water went through started to glow with a brilliant white light.

Eve saw and felt the light spread across her body, causing her to lose all sense of the world around her, replaced entirely by the beautiful white light.

At this point time resumed its normal pace, revealing to both Mary and the Squirtle the fact that Eve was about to evolve.

A moment later Eve returned to her senses, and found that her sight was now different.

A peculiar spectrum of light was now made visible to her, enabling her eyes to see the moisture level of anything they gazed upon.

"The Eevee, it evolved…" Mary said, astounded by this new turn of events, "but into what?"

Then a voice came out of Mary`s wrist watch, "Vaporeon, Water-type evolution of an Eevee," spoke the informative female voice, "this Pokémon is able to transform its body into liquid water to avoid physical attacks, in addition, this Pokémon can predict and even control the weather patterns in its vicinity, how Vaporeons can do this is currently unknown."

"Water-type eh, Tort, use Rollout!" Mary ordered.

Without another word, the Squirtle pulled it`s appendages in to its shell and started to spin forwards at a rapid pace, heading straight for Eve!

Still trying to grasp what just happened to her, Eve was caught unawares and took a direct hit from the vicious attack, getting knocked on the floor as a result.

"That`s good, Tort," cheered Mary, "now, hit it again!" She ordered.

In response, the rolling blue turtle changed its course; lining up for another strike, but this time Eve had time to figure out her new form.

Remembering what the watch said earlier, Eve quickly figured out how to change her form to that of liquid water and melted away in a flash of a second.

The Squirtle was caught off guard by this, and was unable to change course; instead crashing into a nearby tree.

Then Eve turned her attention to the girl, her sight revealing something that was kept from her before.

Inside the poke-ball she could now see an outline of her friend Eric, or rather, the water that was coursing through his body, it looked as though he was trying to get out, but to no avail.

After seeing this, Eve grew terribly enraged.

She lunged at the girl with teeth bared and claws forward, but before Eve reached her destination, the Squirtle got between them and blocked her attack; the blue turtle`s entire body was emitting an impenetrable force-field.

"Get out of my way, Squirtle! That Pokémon has my friend!" Eve shouted at the blue turtle blocking her way.

"Pokémon, what are you talking about!?" the Squirtle asked while still holding up its shield.

"The one that`s holding that orb!" Eve growled in reply.

"That`s not a Pokémon, that`s my Trainer, and you`re not going to get to her!" the Squirtle stated.

At this, Eve changed her focus to the turtle himself, striking with her newfound strength in such a flurry of Quick-Attacks that the Squirtle`s shield was broken down to nothing in three seconds flat.

After she broke it`s shield, Eve used Take Down, rendering the Squirtle unconscious before it even hit the ground.

"No, Tort!" Mary exclaimed with dismay when she saw her Pokémon lying unconscious on the ground, "don`t worry, I'll get you some help!" Mary said as she pressed a button on her watch.

Then all of a sudden both she and the turtle vanished in a flash of light, leaving the Vaporeon alone in the clearing with no idea where her friend could be.

"No! Where`d you go!? Eric, where are you, ERIC!"

To be continued…


	2. Searching for Eric

Eve searched all through the Viridian forest, franticly looking for Eric, but in vain,

The girl and the turtle were nowhere to be found, either,

She searched through the night,

Hoping,

Just, hoping that there would be some glimmer of a clue as to where her friend was,

But as before, to no avail,

Until Eve finally collapsed from exhaustion, and slept until morning,

When she awoke, Eve found herself somewhat dazed and quite stiff from her uncomfortable slumber,

She got up and looked around, wondering where to resume her search,

But when she took a step forward she noticed something,

Her paw was no longer smooth and blue; it was now brown and furry instead, just like it was before all the trouble yesterday,

Eve looked at the rest her body and found that she was now an Eevee again,

"Maybe it was all a dream…" Eve mused to herself,

"maybe Eric is still sleeping."

With this thought in her mind, Eve raced back to Eric`s den, praying that she was right and that yesterday was all just some horrible nightmare,

But when she got there, Eve found Eric`s den uninhabited, his ash bedding spilled out its entrance by the wind,

"He`s really gone…" Eve said aloud, the reality sinking in,

"No, it`s not true, he has to be here somewhere," she said, trying not to fall prey to hopelessness,

"ERIC!" she shouted as loud as she could, trying to see if he could hear her, wherever he was,

Then someone came running into the nearby clearing,

It was a young man in his twenties, followed by a Meowth with a red-copper coin on his forehead instead of the normal gold,

"Come on, Sandy, there`s got to be an Eevee in this clearing, I know I heard it!" the young man said excitedly, (apparently, they had both heard Eve`s cry)

"Hey, slow down, Harold, we haven't even had breakfast yet!" shouted the Meowth, though his owner could not understand him

Eve quickly dove behind a bush to hide,

"Another 'Trainer' pokemon, it must know where Eric is." Eve said to herself,

"I shouldn't rush out and attack, it will only disappear like the last one; I should watch it for a while and see where it goes…"

After the young man and the Meowth searched the clearing for a while (Eve had to change her hiding spot more than once to keep from being seen) they finally gave up,

"Well, that was disappointing; come on, Sandy, let`s head to Pallet town and get some breakfast; I`m starving…" said the young man,

"Oi… finally; you know Harold, you should really pay more attention to food than you do to pokemon…" Sandy commented, he often made comments like that because he knew his owner could not understand him,

"They`re leaving; I should follow them to this 'Pallet Town'; maybe I can find answers there." Eve said to herself,

She quietly began to follow them, taking extra care not to be seen,

After a short while, they arrived at a large opening in a white picket fence that Eve had no idea existed,

Next to the fence was a sign that read:

Pallet Town: home of the Ketchum Gym and the Professor Oak memorial pokemon research center

"Here we are, Sandy, Pallet town!" The young man said,

"now, let`s see if their food is as legendary as their history…"

Upon hearing this, Eve felt her stomach grumble (she hadn`t eaten anything since noon yesterday)

"My map says that the food court is this way…" the young man said as he and the Meowth started to enter the large town,

But when Eve started to follow, she tripped on a small rock and fell onto the road in plain view,

Upon hearing this, the Meowth turned around to see Eve flat on her face and trying to get back on her feet,

When he noticed his Meowth was not next to him, the young man turned around and saw Sandy staring down Eve, who at this point had gotten back on her feet,

"I knew I heard an Eevee! Sandy, use Quick-Attack to throw her off-guard!" he ordered,

"Good idea, Harold!" Sandy commented as he rushed toward Eve as fast as he could,

Sandy`s attack had the desired effect, as Eve had no idea he was coming until after she was knocked back on the ground by the sudden strike,

"Now quickly use Sand-Attack!" the young man ordered,

In response, Sandy used the momentum from his Quick-Attack to spin around once while scraping some dirt off the road with his paw, flinging it right into Eve`s eyes,

Now blinded and angry, Eve charged at Sandy with a reckless Take Down and luckily made contact with her target, sending him reeling backwards with a nasty bruise,

Then Eve used a Quick-Attack of her own, knocking Sandy into the left post of the nearby sign, cracking it lengthwise with the force of his momentum,

"Sandy! Are you alright!?" Harold shouted in concern for his Meowth,

"here, take this Berry!" he shouted as he tossed one to Sandy,

Sandy caught the Berry with his mouth and ate it, healing his bruises somewhat as a result,

"She`s coming around for another hit, quick, Sandy, Use Zap Cannon!" the young man shouted,

Then Sandy`s copper charm started to glow a brilliant yellow,

An instant later, sparks of yellow electricity started to dance around him, quickly making their way to his charm,

Eve saw this and started to rush forward with a Quick-Attack in an attempt to stop the Meowth`s attack before it started,

But this course of action only made Eve a bigger target as Sandy was already prepared to fire,

When Sandy launched his Zap Cannon, Eve was but inches away from him, the resulting shockwave shattering the already cracked signpost behind him, though Eve was unaware of this as she was completely knocked unconscious by the immensely powerful blast.

Quite a while later, Eve awoke to find herself in a strange mechanical room lined with darkened mirrors, the oddest part of it all was the fact that it looked like the room was shaped like the inside of a large ball,

"Hello!" Eve shouted, but the only voice that came back was from her echo,

"Is anyone there!?" she shouted again, again the only reply was from her echo,

Then Eve thought she heard the voices of not one, but two other people, and it sounded like they were having a conversation,

"Hey, did you hear? Apparently the pokemon scanner`s on the fritz." said one of the voices,

"Yeah, I was there; the dumb machine couldn`t tell what pokemon was in the pokeball it was scanning; it just kept cycling through all the Eevee evolutions, one after another" said the other voice,

"Which pokeball was it scanning, anyway?" the first voice asked,

"I think it was scanning this one…" the other voice replied,

Then Eve felt the room she was in start to move, it startled her at first, but not enough to make her lose her footing,

"What pokemon do you think is in there?" the first voice asked,

"I don't know, based on what the machine was saying before it decided to go foobar, I would think it would be an Eevee." The second voice replied,

"Care to bet on that?" the first voice asked challengingly,

"Aww… not that kick again…" the second voice complained,

"you still owe me fifty bucks from the last time."

"Well, if I win this one; you can call it even." The first voice stated,

"Fine. But if I win, you pay up right now and you also owe me another ten." The second voice replied,

"Fine, if it`s anything other than an Eevee, I win." agreed the first voice,

Then Eve heard a loud clicking noise followed by a bright, multi-colored light that seemed to envelope her,

Then the bright light faded away and Eve found herself in a large room with rows upon rows of shelves, each with dozens of pokeballs, each lit up by a sterile-looking light underneath them,

"Ha! I was right! It was an Eevee; pay up, Jack, I won fair and square!" spoke the second voice again,

Eve turned around to see a man and a woman standing there gawking at her, the woman had a smile on her face that spoke of victory, (apparently, she won the bet)

"Two more 'Trainer' pokemon, what do they want?" Eve asked herself,

"Aww… and it`s a cute Eevee, too." the woman cooed at Eve,

"maybe she`d like a pat on the head" the woman continued as she reached her hand down to pet Eve,

Thinking that this was an attack, Eve jumped back and growled, baring her teeth,

"Don't worry, there`s nothing to be afraid of." The woman said, reaching her hand closer as if her words alone would make Eve trust her,

Seeing that the woman wouldn`t back off, Eve decided to use a more forceful method to get her to go away, she used BITE on the woman`s middle finger, holding back so as to not cause damage,

"OW! That`s it! I`m calling Nurse Joy!" the woman cried as she hurried out of the room while holding her hand, leaving the man and Eve as the sole occupants of the room,

"Nice Eevee, nice Eevee, don't eat me, Eevee." The man started repeatedly saying, stepping closer and closer to the exit with each word,

When he reached the door frame, the man bolted out of the room in a flash of a second, leaving Eve alone in the room,

"That was weird; I didn`t bite that one, why did it run away?" Eve asked herself,

"these 'Trainer' pokemon are really skittish…"

Then Eve took a moment to peruse the room she was in, there was an open pokeball on the floor next to where the woman was standing,

"Another orb like the one that Eric was trapped in!" Eve exclaimed,

Then she took a closer look and saw that the inside looked exactly like the metallic room she was in earlier, complete with tiny darkened mirrors lining the walls,

Then she decided to roll it over to get a better look at the rest of the inside, but when she touched the pokeball it suddenly snapped shut, nearly taking Eve`s paw off in the process!

"Hey! Don't close on me! I`m not finished with you!" Eve demanded, but the pokeball remained shut,

She started pushing the ball around, knocking it against a wall to get it open,

Then she noticed the button along the seam,

"Maybe that opens this thing up?" Eve said as she reached her paw out to press the button,

When she pressed it, the pokeball sprang open and fired out a pale-red beam of energy that just barely failed to make contact with Eve, who jumped back in surprise at all this,

Instead, the beam of energy struck a trash can in the corner of room,

Just as it did this, the energy receded back into the ball and left the trash can undisturbed,

"WARNING, OBJECT IS NOT A POKEMON, CAN NOT CONTAIN." spoke a voice that came from the pokeball, which then snapped shut again,

"You can talk!? Tell me where Eric is!" Eve shouted at the pokeball, which said nothing in return,

"Well, if you`re not going to tell me where Eric is, maybe one of these other orbs will tell me…" Eve said, now deciding which pokeball to open first, the many shelves provided a multitude of choices,

"I`ll start with the ones on the bottom…" Eve said as she went to press the button on a pokeball that was within easy reach,

When she pressed it, the pokeball opened up just like the last one,

But this time, instead of a red beam of energy, the ball emitted a wide, multicolored beam that seemed to pool on the floor and quickly form into a shape,

A moment later, the shape faded away, leaving behind a grey Furret,

"Wait a minute, all these orbs have pokemon in them!?" Eve said aloud, quite surprised at her new discovery,

"but they`re so small, how could a pokemon even fit in there?"

When she turned and asked the grey Furret these questions it replied with a mischievous giggle and ran off down and around a shelf,

"Hey, where are you going? Come back!" Eve shouted at the Furret as she chased after it,

When she caught up, she was just in time to see the Furret begin pressing the buttons on all the pokeballs, one after another, releasing a wide array of pokemon of all shapes and sizes,

In almost no time at all, the room was suddenly filled with at least one of nearly every type of pokemon from the entire Kanto region, and some from other places as well.

It took everything Eve was worth to not get run over by the zoo of pokemon stampeding their way out of the room,

Then Eve saw a Vulpix on it`s way out with the rest of the crowd,

"That`s Eric! I found him!" Eve exclaimed,

Then she started chase after him, having to push past several other pokemon in the process and nearly getting stepped on more than a few times,

When the stampede got out of the cramped room it started to move faster and get more destructive, the whole time, there were people running and screaming as they dodged out of the way of the myriad of pokemon,

Eve caught up to the Vulpix just as the stampede reached what looked like the lobby, a very large curved glass window made up the wall that had the door to the exit, revealing the fact that it was late in the afternoon, the sun was still up, but not for much longer

"Eric, I finally found you! Are you alright?" Eve cried in relief just as she reached the Vulpix,

"Who are you?" replied the Vulpix,

Then Eve saw that it was not Eric, just some other Vulpix,

"Go away, lady, I`m trying to find my trainer…" the Vulpix said as it walked away,

"If that wasn`t Eric, where-" Eve began to say,

Then she was interrupted mid-sentence by the sound of the lobby`s glass façade getting smashed open by a large Tauros, allowing the stampede to spill out into the street,

In order to not get crushed, Eve dodged away from the raging stampede, further into the lobby,

Now focused entirely on survival, Eve ducked behind a potted plant near the receptionist`s desk,

Then she saw two Rattata nearby, happily gnawing away at some power cords at the base of the desk, completely unconcerned with the chaos that was no more than six feet away from them,

Then Eve heard loud and startling noises coming from outside,

She poked her head out to see what it was and saw several men and women in matching uniforms, alongside them was a nearly equal number of Arcanine, each using Reflect to form a barrier around the crowd of pokemon, restricting them to a small area around the building that Eve was in,

"Alright, Wall Team, hold steady; Capture Team, begin containment!" ordered a woman with a speakerphone, apparently the leader,

In response, several of the uniformed people started throwing pokeballs into the enclosed area, each one launching a red beam of light that enveloped any given pokemon in the walled-in area, making them disappear as the light receded,

Amongst the crowd of pokemon, the reaction to all this was oddly mixed; while most of them shied away from the pokeballs, others dived right towards them looking for safety and still others panicked and began rushing back into the building,

Unfortunately, the large Tauros was among the panicky ones and made another hole in the glass wall as he smashed his way back into the lobby, knocking over a water cooler in the process,

Then the bull proceeded to wreck the entire room in it`s bid to escape, nearly crushing Eve when he knocked the receptionist`s desk clean off it`s bolts and across the room, snapping the wires that the two Rattata were gnawing on earlier,

Eve dodged out of the way as the Tauros blindly smashed it`s way through the room and she landed on a puddle of water,

"Hey! Stop smashing around; you`re gonna end up squishing me!" Eve shouted at the large bull,

In response, the Tauros started to calm down and think,

"Um, w-who are you?" the Tauros asked Eve when he calmed most of the way down,

"My name`s Eve, what`s yours?" Eve asked the bull in reply, quite surprised that he was so easy to calm down,

"H-Hector," said the Tauros,

"do you know a way out of here?"

"No, I don't, but I`m pretty sure it will be easier to figure out if you quit stomping around." Eve stated flatly,

"I`m sorry, I`m just trying to get out of here before they put me back into another one of those 'pokeballs' again" Hector said apologetically,

Then they looked at the chaos that was ensuing outside; the uniformed people were closer now as they continued to collect the crowd of pokemon back into pokeballs, periodically raising parts of the Reflect wall to allow pokeballs to slip underneath,

Eve saw this and thought for a moment before saying, "Hector, I have an idea."

"What is it, Eve?" the Tauros asked,

"There`s a weakness in the wall; do you see it?" Eve asked in reply,

"Yeah, I do see it…" Hector exclaimed,

The thing that she was referring to was the fact that each time one of the Arcanine raised their part of the Reflect wall, that part of the wall dimmed and flickered for a moment,

"Ok, here`s th-" Eve suddenly stopped speaking,

"Eve, what is it?" Hector said, turning to look at her to find out,

He saw Eve just standing there, her eyes wide open and whole body twitching slightly,

Instantly Hector realized what was wrong; the water Eve was standing in had made it`s way to the exposed wires and was now sending a deadly current of electricity straight through her!

To be continued…


	3. Jolteon vs, Arcanine

For what seemed like an eternity, Eve stood there in the paralytic grip of the heavy current of electricity as Hector desperately looked for a way to save her; panicking more and more as each second passed.

"Oh no, what do I do, what do I do?" Hector stammered aloud as he searched for something to get Eve off of the water before the electric current damaged her beyond repair.

Suddenly, before Hector could find a feasible method for saving Eve, a brilliant white light started coming from Eevee`s direction.

Hector turned around to see the Eve just as the light covered her completely.

"She`s evolving…" Hector spoke aloud as he watched in amazement.

Then without warning, huge bolts of lightning started to fly off of the light that stood in place of Eve; charring and shattering everything they struck.

Hector had to dodge left and right to avoid getting scorched by the blue-white lightning as it decimated the room around him.

After several moments of electric mayhem, the brilliant light faded away, the lightning along with it.

When Eve regained her senses, she found them changed once more, only this time instead of seeing moisture levels, see could now see electrons, and not just the ones around her, but all of them, all traveling at their blinding pace; coursing through the Cosmos on their endless journey.

Although to Eve, their pace was anything but blinding, in fact, she felt as if she could run as quickly as they could as easily as one could jog down the street.

"Hector, what just happened?" Eve asked; still adjusting to her newly modified sight and unaware of the full extent of her change.

"You got caught on the electricity; I thought you were gonna die; but then you evolved," Hector replied, "into a Jolteon."

Eve wanted to see for herself, and with the help of a decorative wall mirror that somehow remained unscathed, found that her form had in fact changed a great deal: her fluffy, mocha-brown fur had been replaced by somewhat coarse, spikey, yellow fur with white accents; she was also half-again larger than before.

But the oddest part was something only Eve could see; the entire surface of her body coursed with electrons, looking similar to what you and I would call a circuit board, but to Eve, it was nothing short of the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Meanwhile, outside, the officers were watching the whole affair in a panic.

"Where`s that Pokédex? I asked for it now, not later!" shouted the lead officer, a woman with blue hair in her thirty`s

"Here it is Officer Jenny, ma`am, er, I mean sir." Spoke a hurried officer, who then handed what looked like an electronic book to his CO.

"Identify newly evolved Pokémon." The blue haired woman ordered the Pokédex.

"Scanning…

Jolteon, lightning evolution of an Eevee, this Pokémon constantly charges electrical energy when in an elevated emotional state; when charged, this Pokémon's fur stands on end, becoming as sharp as steel and able to produce projectiles if the Pokémon desires; in addition, recent studies have shown that this Pokémon's Quick-Attack move can allow it to attain speeds several times the speed of sound." Spoke the informative voice,

"Finally, a challenge…" the lead officer said under her breath, "alright, Capture Troop, finish up with containment!" she ordered aloud.

Back in the building, Eve and Hector had resumed planning their escape, now having to account for Eve`s sudden boost in power.

"Ok, let`s go over this one more time: as soon as one of the Arcanine lifts their shield, we both charge though, making sure to aim for the bottom of it, where the gap is." Eve explained to Hector.

"Got it." Hector replied.

"Alright, now we need to wait for right mome-" Eve started saying, but then she saw that the last Pokéball was just about to be passed under the shield wall; this was their last chance!

"Come on, Hector! We need to go now!" Eve shouted as she bolted out of one of the holes in the lobby`s window-wall.

"Wait, Eve, don`t forget me!" Hector said as he tried to follow, but his fastest charge was barely a snail`s pace in comparison to the rate that Eve was moving.

Before it even had time to react, the Arcanine that owned the shield Eve was passing was knocked over by the sonic boom created by her in the process of skidding underneath.

"Yes! Hector, we made it!" Eve exclaimed after skidding for half a city block and stopping.

But then Eve noticed that Hector was not with her.

"Hector?" she asked when she could not find him just by looking around.

"Eve! Help!" screamed a voice in the distance, and then Eve realized: Hector was still behind the shield wall!

Eve bolted back to the police enclosure as quick as she could.

When she arrived, she found Hector facing one of the Arcanine, and not doing very well; he had already sustained several bruises and a nasty burn to his side.

"Good going, Growlie! We`ve got him weakened." spoke a male officer that was standing behind Hector`s opponent.

"Now, I`ll get him back into a Pokéball!" the officer said as he tossed a pokeball at Hector.

Eve watched as the Pokéball enveloped Hector in the red light, causing him to disappear as it receded back into the ball.

"No! Hector!" Eve cried as the red and white orb closed with Hector inside.

"I`ll not lose another friend!" Eve stated to herself.

With that resolution in mind, she got a running start and leaped over the shield wall with her momentum and into plain view; much to the surprise of any who saw.

"There`s the Jolteon from before, Growlie! Quick, use Flame Wheel!" The officer ordered when he saw Eve.

In response, the Arcanine suddenly immolated, curled up into a ball and started spinning forward rapidly towards Eve.

Then Eve noticed something, although she could see a marginal amount of electric activity coursing through the bodies of any and all living beings, she saw that most of it was centered in their heads, and when the officer spoke and the Arcanine used its move, there was a sudden flare in activity in each of their heads a moment beforehand.

Eve was so distracted by this realization that she was caught unawares and received a painful, though not quite harmful, strike that shoved her aside as the Arcanine barreled through.

Eve`s opponent kept going and struck the shield wall, though his comrades allowed the wall to give a bit, sparing him from the majority of the damage; that was of course, what they were trained to do.

Now it was Eve`s turn, she used Quick-Attack as soon as the Arcanine was no longer immolated, creating a sonic boom the moment she began moving.

Growlie was completely caught off guard by the sheer speed of Eve`s attack and had no time whatsoever to react before she made contact, sending him reeling back into the wall.

The male officer was about to give another order when everyone heard a commanding voice call out, "Stand down, Officer!-" said the voice.

At the far side of the police enclosure, Eve saw the shield wall part to let a blue-haired woman in her thirty`s step inside.

"-and allow me to take care of this one." said the woman, apparently the voice`s owner.

"Yes sir, Officer Jenny!" the male officer replied; he then called his Arcanine back into his Pokéball and left out of the gap in the wall that Officer Jenny stepped in, leaving the pokeball with Hector inside behind; the wall snapped closed behind him.

Then Jenny turned her attention to Eve.

She opened a pouch that was attached to her belt and removed a small silver whistle and a Pokéball, though the colored part on this Pokéball was dark-blue rather than the ordinary red.

"Gobel! Front and center!" Officer Jenny commanded while tossing the Pokéball on the ground between her and Eve.

It bounced once before halting in mid-air and opening, releasing a multi-colored stream of energy that formed into the shape of a large creature.

Then the energy faded away to reveal another Arcanine, only this one was half-again larger than the largest of his comrades, and angrier to boot.

Eve reflexively took a step back. Even with her massive boost in power, she couldn`t help but be a little bit intimidated by her opponent, especially since she was more focused on saving Hector at this point.

But since it looked like this Officer and her Arcanine weren`t going to just let her walk away, Eve figured it best to just get this over with quickly.

Eve decided to use Quick-Attack to surprise her opponent, but despite Eve`s incredible speed, Jenny was able to use her whistle and signal for Gobel to use Reflect in time for him to block her attack.

Eve`s momentum was enough to push Gobel back a few yards before he planted his feet on the ground, halting her entirely.

Seeing her attack do almost nothing angered Eve to a great degree and made the fur on her back stand on end in extremely sharp points.

Then Eve saw that the electrons around her were acting strangely: they started to arrange themselves into arcing lines that stretched from her back all the way over to where Gobel was standing.

Eve instinctively knew what this meant, and with a sudden tensing of her back muscles, she launched dozens of needle-sharp spines of fur along the lines and towards Gobel in her first use of the Pin-Missile move.

Gobel quickly directed his Reflect shield to block this new attack, but since it was simply a flat wall, a great deal of the needles made their way around it, greeting him on his sides with their painful countenance.

Then Jenny gave another whistle command, though this one had a different pitch and pattern from the previous one.

In response, Gobel suddenly immolated and shot forward, curling up into a ball in the process.

Eve was caught unawares by this and because she was right in front of him, she had no time to move before she was completely run over by Gobel`s vicious Flame Wheel, but before Gobel had even turned around and put out his flames, Eve had already gotten back on her feet.

Then Eve decided to try something else. Turning her attention to the electric energy flowing around her, she snapped a some of it into a cohesive form with a single thought and forced this bolt of power in Gobel`s direction.

Gobel saw what Eve was doing, but even still he could not get out of the way of Eve`s attack before receiving a painful electric jolt to his face, getting Paralyzed as a result,

Then Eve saw her chance.

She dashed for the Pokéball with Hector in it, and with the help of some static electricity, attached it to her back (she was learning her new form at a surprising rate).

Once she was sure it was secure and that Gobel was incapacitated, Eve quickly shot out of the enclosure, using her momentum to leap over the shield wall.

"It`s getting away, dammit! Gobel, quick, use this!" Jenny shouted as she tossed a PRLZCURBERRY to her Arcanine; Gobel caught and ate it, very quickly recovering from his Paralysis as a result.

Then Jenny ordered the other officers to part the shield wall and gave another whistle command to Gobel, this one being a sharp double-note similar to that of a cricket, and then got on a police motorbike that was wheeled over to her by another officer.

In response, Gobel used Extreme-Speed, dashing after Eve at a rate closely rivaling her Quick-Attack.

Some ways away, Eve spotted an alleyway that was perfect for hiding Hector, so she skidded to halt and carefully stashed the Pokéball behind a trash can; making sure to remember where she put it.

"Don`t worry, Hector, I`ll come back for you…" Eve promised as she backed out of the alley.

However, as Eve was backing out of the alley, she was suddenly blind-sided by Gobel, and was sent flying for three city blocks from the force of the vicious blow.

Not wanting to give her a chance to strike back, Gobel rushed forward and used his front paws to pin Eve on the ground before she even started to get back up.

With her opponent`s weight holding her fast to ground, Eve found herself unable to escape.

"Get off of me!" Eve tried to say, but the weight of her opponent was squashing the air out of her, threatening to render her unconscious via hypoxia.

She was about ready to give up, but then a thought crossed her mind: if she gave up now, no one knew where Hector was, meaning he would die in that Pokéball, unable to even feed himself.

With this thought driving her, Eve summoned up all the strength she could muster and unleashed a massive electrical Spark into Gobel.

Officer Jenny arrived on her motorbike just in time to see her Arcanine get thrown off of Eve and straight through the front window of a store across the street,

"No, Gobel!" Jenny cried out in concern for her Arcanine,

She quickly got off her motorbike and started making her way over to her pokemon, but before she made it even halfway, Gobel climbed out of the store front`s remnants, badly burned, bruised and very pissed-off.

"Gobel, are you still able to fight?" Jenny asked her Arcanine.

"I`m fine, Jenny; let`s keep going." Gobel replied, though like most people Jenny only understood the gist of his reply, but that was enough.

Jenny was about to make another whistle command, but before she could, Eve launched another Thunder-Shock, throwing Gobel back into the store front.

Eve then turned her attention to Jenny, figuring that if she took out the Trainer, her opponent would no longer have any tactical support,

Eve was about to Quick-Attack her, but Jenny quickly gave a very high-pitched whistle command,

Then Eve saw a bright yellowish light emanate from inside the store, and before she could react, a powerful beam of energy came out of the store, just barely grazing her and utterly destroying the building next to her,

Turning to look at the damage that was done to the building, Eve figured that it was not a good idea to fight around here any longer, lest she accidently kill Hector,

Eve used Quick-Attack to run away, hoping that they would give chase and so move away from her friend,

Luckily, both the Officer and her Arcanine took the bait, and quickly gave chase, Jenny on her motorbike and Gobel with Extreme-Speed,

Their fight took them through the majority of Pallet Town (which at this day and age looked more like a metropolis, encompassing a couple hundred square miles)

They chased through streets, avenues, alleys and even buildings wherever they were large enough, the whole time, Gobel and Eve traded blows, some small, simply being distractions or misfires, while others were massively powerful, leaving destruction in their wake,

After a while of this high-speed stalemate, Jenny decided to try something new,

Seeing that her motorbike was running out of fuel, she set her whistle to an ultra-high frequency so Gobel could hear her and gave the command for Flame Wheel, but then added a sharp double-note afterwards,

Gobel knew what this meant, and dashed forward with Extreme-Speed, building up a tremendous amount of inertia,

Eve saw this out of the corner of her eye and was prepared for another Extreme-Speed, but not for what happened next,

After building up enough inertia, Gobel curled up into a ball and immolated, combining the effects of both Flame Wheel and Extreme-Speed into one powerful move,

Now surprised and a bit terrified, Eve started moving faster, hoping to outrun the excessively fast ball of fire that was driving its way towards her, but she had already received considerable damage, and so could not run at full speed,

Eve had to figure out another way,

Then Eve noticed a massive steam of electrons traveling through the ground; though she did not know it, Eve was looking at one of the main lines of Pallet Town`s power plant, but she came to the right conclusion nonetheless: if she could get to its source, she just might win,

But first, she needed to slow down Gobel,

Knowing that her opponent was deliberately aiming for her, Eve pretended to head into an alleyway, then, when Gobel was but five feet away from her, she dodged to the side, leaving her opponent to smash headlong into a dumpster, sending tattered remains of garbage bags and the refuse they contained flying and flaming in all directions,

Without skipping a beat, Eve started following the buried power line to its source as quickly as she could, hoping that she could get there before Gobel got back up,

But Eve`s opponent was already in the process of scrambling out of the rubble and refuse of the alley, angry enough to make paper burst into flames with his internal temperature alone,

Though, when Gobel got clear of the alley, it took him a moment to figure out which way Eve went, giving her a much needed head start,

By the time Gobel resumed chasing Eve, she had already made it halfway to her goal,

But even still, he was closing the gap between them at a rate that made Eve worry that she might not get there in time,

After a few blocks, Eve was able to clearly see the massive amount of electricity that coursed in and around her goal, all sitting there and ready to use,

The sight of it all boosted Eve`s morale greatly, giving her the hope and motivation to push on despite her injuries,

Thinking that his opponent was simply running to get away, Gobel started to chase a little bit faster, he had no intention of letting her escape, but all at the same time did not believe Eve was a capable threat at this point, (what with all the damage he inflicted not minutes ago)

Then Eve saw a heartening sight: the power station itself, just five blocks away at the other end of a straight section of road at the edge of the Town,

But just then, Gobel rounded the corner behind Eve, who was now only four blocks away from her goal,

Eve stopped and turned around to see that Gobel was not even two blocks away from her,

Now with a great deal of fear driving her forward, Eve quickened her pace, ignoring her injuries entirely,

Gobel decided to end this quickly with an Extreme-Speed, but when he tried to use it, he found he was unable to; (he`d run out of PP!),

Seeing that he couldn`t use a move, Gobel decided to run Eve down the old-fashioned way,

As she came near to her goal, Eve`s pain and fatigue began to slow her down again, despite the adrenaline in her system, and Gobel was quickly gaining on her,

When Eve reached the power plant`s brick fence, her opponent was less than a block away and closing fast,

Eve searched for way through the fence at a feverish pace, finally finding a small gap to the right of the gate and diving through with hesitation, just barely avoiding Gobel`s attack as he smashed into the wall, shaking it to its core,

But it wasn`t long before the Arcanine started smashing his way through with Flame Wheel (he`d run out of PP for Hyper Beam some time ago),

When Gobel finally broke down the gate, he saw Eve standing close to the power grid,

"End of the line, Jolteon; I win." Gobel said,

But Eve just stood there with a confident look on her face,

"What`s the matter, too injured to talk, or are you just stupid?" Gobel asked, attempting to goad Eve,

But Eve simply smiled in a fashion that suggested that she had something up her proverbial sleeve; this angered Gobel greatly, to the point of making him think of nothing more than wiping that look off her face

Not paying attention to anything except for doing just that, Gobel used Flame Wheel to make a reckless charge at his opponent, intending to end this battle right here and now,

Eve stood her ground and remembered the move that the Meowth used to knock her out the day before,

Using this memory as a sort of learning scaffold, Eve started drawing a massive amount of electrons from the power grid and pooled them all in a central point in front of her, waiting for Gobel come as close as she was when she lost the fight against Sandy,

When Gobel was but inches away from her, Eve launched her own Zap Cannon, but unlike Sandy`s, Eve`s attack came out a brilliant white-blue rather than yellow,

But the effect was still the same, and Gobel was sent flying through the brick fence with enough inertia to keep going for thirty yards worth of pine trees before skidding to a halt, badly injured and completely unconscious,

Seeing that her opponent was finally down, Eve thought it best to run away before more people showed up, intending to come back for Hector when no one was looking,

But when she got to the forest, Eve`s wounds began to take their toll, making her dizzy and weak,

She needed to find a safe place to rest before she fell over in plain view,

Luckily, there was a suitable hole at the base of a tree not far from the edge of the forest,

After finding that it was unoccupied, the Jolteon collapsed in the relative safety of her temporary den, and slept for awhile…

To be continued…


	4. Hope, or despair?

Chapter four

After a surprisingly sound five hours of sleep, Eve received a very unpleasant wake-up call in the form of her temporary den suddenly flooding partway, causing her to jump up in surprise and disgust.

When she got to her feet, the first thing Eve noticed, (beyond being soaking wet of course…) was that her eyes could no longer see electrons. Eve took a look at the rest of her body and sure enough, she had changed back into an Eevee while she slept. Another thing was the fact that her entire body had been completely healed, as if her fight with Gobel never occurred.

"Is this going to happen every time I go to sleep?" Eve asked, though to no one in particular; she was disappointed over the fact that she was no longer a Jolteon, but grateful that her wounds were gone.

Then Eve turned her attention to the fact that her sleeping spot was now a puddle, "Ugh, I`ve gotta get out out of this…" she said as she shook the mud and water off of herself.

When she made her way out of her temporary den, she found that it was raining outside. "This spot floods every time it rains? Well, no wonder it was empty…" Eve commented as she surveyed her surroundings, it was raining quite a bit, though from the looks of it, it hadn`t started but just a few minutes ago,

"Well, at least no one will expect me to go get Hector in this mess; though I`d better hurry, he`s probably colder then I am at this point." Eve said to herself before starting for the city.

Along the way, Eve took a passing look at the power station. It looked so different now that Eve could no longer see the electric energy that flowed through it, but beyond that, she noticed that all the damage that she and Gobel had dealt to the station had either been completely repaired or covered in a tarp of some kind. There were warning signs set up everywhere,

"These, 'Trainer' Pokémon keep getting weirder and weirder, but at least they take care of their dens." Eve commented. She was a bit curious as to how the 'Trainers' had fixed all of that so quickly, but saving Hector was more important at this point.

There was however, one major obstacle: she had only the vaguest idea as to where she put him, but she did have one thing going for her: she hid Hector about three buildings away from the one that was obliterated by Gobel.

"I guess I`m going to have to retrace my steps…" Eve commented as she began to follow the path of repair tarps and craters through the endless deluge.

Along the way, Eve gained a new perspective on just massively powerful she was as a Jolteon. Some of the damage she had caused during the fight earlier was on a completely different level then anything she could do as an Eevee.

As an Eevee, Eve could shake a bird from an oak tree or even crack a medium sized rock in half, but not without causing damage to herself in the process; but during that fight, she accomplished ten times as much without so much as a second thought.

"I wonder if I was that powerful when I had changed into a Vaporeon earlier…" Eve commented to herself.

After an hour of following craters and dodging cars (having to do all this in the rain didn`t help any). Eve finally found the stretch of road that contained the destroyed building she was looking for. After checking every alley on either side of the now non-existent building, she finally spotted the one that looked the most like the spot where she hid Hector,

But when she got there, she saw a figure in a rain coat standing in the alley, he was turned away and it looked like he was holding something in its hands. Eve quickly hid around a corner and peered around to spy on the figure; hoping that they hadn`t found Hector, but when the figure turned around, Eve`s fears were confirmed as the he held a Pokéball in his hands.

The figure himself was an old man in his seventy`s. Slightly spiky gray hair adorned the man`s head and he was wearing a white cotton lab-coat under his rain coat. He held the Pokéball with care, as if it would be the most horrible deed in the world if he were to drop it. "Well, Victor, here it is, just like the scanner said it would be." said the man, though to whom Eve could not tell.

"Huh, looks like your Pokéball tracker works after all, Gary…" spoke another voice, though it`s owner was hidden from view.

"Oh, great, now there are two 'trainers' for me to deal with," Eve commented under her breath, "now I`ll never get to Hector."

"Oh, don`t be like that, Victor, since when have my inventions ever failed before?" the man in the lab coat asked the other voice.

"How bout` that 'micro-Pokéball' nonsense?" the other voice laughingly asked in reply "it`s a good thing that Snorlax was just a dummy, or that woulda` been really bad…"

"Alright, you`ve had your laugh, now enough is enough, we`ve got to get this poor guy back to the lab." The man in the rain coat said, tucking the Pokéball into his coat`s breast pocket.

"How`d it get all the way over here anyway?" the hidden voice asked.

"That, Victor, is a question to be answered later, after we`ve had something to eat." The man in the rain coat replied.

"Yeah, good idea; I`m starving." The hidden voice commented.

Upon hearing this, Eve suddenly remembered that she had not eaten anything since about three days ago; her stomach remembered as well, and consequently gave a grumble that would have made Raikou himself jealous. Unfortunately, Eve stomach also made enough noise to alert both of the people in the alley.

"What was that?" asked the man in the rain coat in a hushed voice.

"I don`t know, I`ll go take a look." Replied the other person in an equally quiet tone.

Eve quickly backed away from the corner, but she was only two feet away when the owner of the hidden voice stepped into view and spotted her, but much to Eve`s surprise, the individual that came out of the alley was not human; he was, in fact, a Jolteon!

"Hey, Gary!..." the Jolteon called to the man in the rain coat, "…it`s just an Eevee."

"Really? Let me see…" said the man in the rain coat as he came around the corner.

Figuring that they were going to attack her just like every other time she encountered a trainer and their Pokémon, Eve chose to not go down without a fight, but Eve was so cold and hungry at this point that she could hardly stand, let alone battle. Upon seeing the state Eve was in, the man in the rain coat reflexively gave a look that was quite surprising to Eve: that of compassion. "Looks to me like you`ve had a rough day," the Jolteon said to Eve, "my name`s Victor; what`s yours?" he asked.

"My name is Eve" Eve replied, "you`re not going to attack me, are you?" she asked; she reflexively tensed up to run away at the slightest provocation.

"Nope, sorry to disappoint you, but me and Gary don`t do stuff like that anymore." Victor replied.

"What do you mean by 'anymore'?" Eve asked, reflexively stepping back a step.

"It`s a long story and it`s not important, don`t worry about it-" Victor replied.

Then the man in the rain coat interrupted, "Excuse me, Victor, have you offered her food yet?" he asked.

"Oi, slow up! I was about to get to that." Victor replied, looking a bit annoyed.

"Umm… what is he going on about?" Eve asked Victor, feeling quite curious now that food was mentioned.

"Yeah, the explanation for that one is another long story, but the gist of it is that Gary and I routinely bring needy or injured Pokémon back to Gary`s lab so that they can be brought back to good health." Victor replied,

"Does that involve food?" Eve asked.

"That it does," Victor replied simply, "and a place to sleep, too." He added.

"It`s all right, Eevee, we want to help you." Said Gary, crouching down so as to appear smaller and less intimidating,

"So, are you accepting our aid?" asked Victor.

"Umm… yeah, I guess so…" Eve replied.

"Alright then, would you mind if I carried you in this?" said Gary as he produced an empty Pokéball from his coat pocket.

Upon seeing the Pokéball, Eve immediately took two steps backwards and was about to run away before Victor interrupted, "Hey! Calm down, you don't have to get in the Pokéball if you don't want to. We were just asking you for permission," He said, "you can walk alongside us to the lab if you want."

"Ha, you don't like Pokéballs, my friend`s Pikachu had a problem with them too," Gary commented as he put the Pokéball back into his pocket, "so, shall we go, Eevee?" he asked Eve,

"Umm… Gary, her name`s Eve." Victor explained to Gary,

"Oh, my apologies… Shall we go, Eve?" Gary asked Eve again, "we`re having Remoraid fillet." He added.

Eve had no idea what a 'fillet' was, but she did know that a Remoraid was a kind of fish, and she liked fish, so she accepted.

"Alright then, let`s go; my lab is only a couple of streets from here…" Gary said as he gestured for Eve to follow.

As the three made their way to Gary`s lab, Eve could not help but inquire, "Hey, Victor, how come it sounded like Gary could understand you when you talked, but when I talked, he couldn`t tell a word I was saying?" she asked.

"That`s yet another long story, and one that can only be explained with the help of another Pokémon that`s in Gary`s lab." Victor replied,

"Oh, alright then, I`ll wait." Eve said, now more curious than ever to find out what the Jolteon was talking about, and also what Remoraid fillet tasted like.

After a few minutes, a large building came into view; at the same time, the rain stopped altogether, like a stage curtain pulling away to reveal the first act of a performance. Eve was quite frankly surprised that she did not see this building yesterday, for the chalk white structure was quite massive indeed, "Impressive, isn`t it?" Victor asked Eve as she stood there in awe of the sheer scale of the building.

"How`d you build a den this big, anyway?" Eve asked Victor.

"It`s called a 'building', and I didn`t build it." Victor laughingly replied.

"Well, who did build it, was it the 'trainer' Pokémon?" Eve asked as they walked up to the lab`s high-tech front door.

"'Trainer'? What are you?… Oh, you`re talking about 'Humans', aren`t you," Victor replied, "yeah, a whole bunch of em` got together and built this laboratory-" He explained.

"Wait a minute; I thought you said that this was called a 'building'." Eve interrupted.

"Umm… maybe I didn`t explain; you see, 'building' is a general term that Humans use when referring to their dens, this building has a full name: The Professor Oak Memorial Pokémon Research Center." The Jolteon explained.

"How`d you remember all that?" Eve asked Victor, still not entirely sure why you would give a den such a long name, or even what the building`s name meant.

"I didn`t remember, I just read it off this sign here." Victor sheepishly admitted, gesturing towards a placard on the wall with his paw.

"Umm, what does 'read' mean?" Eve asked, completely oblivious of Victor`s failed attempt to impress her.

"Wow, you really don`t know anything about Humans, do you?" Victor asked.

"Up until I met your friend, the only Humans I`ve ever seen have either tried to attack me or tried to stuff me into one of those orbs," Eve replied flatly, "so no, I can`t say that I know anything about them; at all."

"Huh, well…" Victor said, he was at a loss for words, every other Pokémon he`d ever met had encountered at least ten different humans before he met them, so Eve`s lack of any and all knowledge about them was quite surprising to him.

"Hey, you two, are you coming inside or not?!" Gary shouted from the laboratory door, interrupting their conversation, "the food`s ready and I don't want to be standing here holding the door while it goes bad on the table!" He commented as he stood there with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yeah, we should get inside, Eve," Victor said, but when he turned to face her, Eve wasn`t there, "hey, where`d you go?" Victor looked around for a moment before finding that Eve was already inside.

"What are you looking for, Victor?" Eve asked.

"Umm… n-nothing, just checking to see if there were any other hungry Pokémon out here who need help, that`s all." Victor stammered in reply.

"Aw, how nice of you." Eve said to Victor, then she turned around and headed off to where the food was,

After Eve went around the corner, Gary turned to face Victor with a disappointed look his face, "Honestly, Victor, don't you think that she`s a bit young for you?" he said to Victor with a stern tone of voice,

"Hey, I wasn`t planning on doing anything; and besides, I`m not that old." Victor replied.

"Dude, you`re sixty-two years old; that's pretty old in my book." Gary commented.

"And you`re seventy, so what?" Victor shot back. An awkward silence fell over both of them, "never mind; let's go eat, I`m starving." He said in order to break the silence and change the topic.

But when they got to the dining area, they both saw Eve standing there in trance, completely motionless, a Drowzee was standing in front of her.

"Oh, come on, Drowser, really… did you have to go and hypnotize her?" Gary said with a disappointed tone, "you do that every time I turn around."

"What, it`s wasn`t my idea" the Drowzee shot back, "it was hers." He said as he pointed at the dazed Eevee.

"Yeah, right, like we`re gonna` believe you" Victor commented.

"It`s the truth, she walked right up to me and said 'could you hypnotize me?' and then I did." the Drowzee stated in his defense.

"Yeah… I`ll believe you when a Snorlax can fly." Victor commented.

"I`m tellin ya`, she wanted me to use Hypnosis on her so she could see her friend." Drowser said, a bit more defensive now.

Then Eve started to make sounds that were a cross between foxes` barks and a chicken`s clucks, interrupting the whole conversation, "Alright, you`ve had your fun…" Gary finally said, "…now snap her out it." He ordered the Drowsee.

"Fine," said Drowser, "I was just trying to be nice…"

Then Drowser snapped his fingers, instantly waking Eve from her trance as a result,

"W-what happened? Where am I?" Eve said, looking around, then for no apparent reason, she broke down in tears,

"What did you do, Drowser!?" Victor asked accusingly.

But before Drowser could say anything in his defense, Eve interrupted, "He didn`t do anything wrong," she said through her tears, "I just asked him if he could use my memories to help me see Eric again."

"See?! I told you!" Drowser exclaimed, but at this point everyone was ignoring him.

"Who`s Eric?" Victor asked Eve.

"Eric is my friend…" Eve replied, her tears were lessened at this point, "…he`s a Vulpix."

"What happened to him?" Gary asked.

"Wait a minute, Victor didn`t translate that for you, how`d you know what I said?!" Eve asked.

"Oh yeah, that would be me doing that," Drowser interjected, "my job around here is to make it so Gary here can understand what all of the Pokémon he takes care of are saying."

"Oh, ok, I guess that makes sense…" Eve said, "…is that what you were trying to explain earlier, Victor?" she asked,

"Yeah, pretty much." Victor replied, shrugging his shoulders as much as is possible for a quadruped.

"Umm… by the way," Gary interjected, "what happened to Eric, anyway?" (He didn`t like to have his questions go unanswered.)

"Oh, right…" Eve said apologetically, "…Eric was kidnapped by a small Human named Mary and a Squirtle named Tort." she explained,

"Oh, that`s terrible-" Gary said,

"But isn`t that legal?" Victor interjected,

"Wait a minute, Humans consider kidnapping legal?!" Eve exclaimed, aghast at what she just heard,

Gary saw where this was going, and quickly spoke up to avoid a confrontation, "Now, wait a moment, hold on, kidnapping isn`t legal" he said, but his trailed off; something about what Eve said a moment ago caught his attention, "hold on, the small human`s name was Mary, correct?" he asked.

"Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?" Eve replied.

"And this all happened about three days ago, right?" Gary inquired.

"Yes, that`s right, how did you know?" Eve asked in reply.

"Well, if I remember right, I think I registered Mary to be a Pokémon trainer around that time." Gary explained.

"I don't understand." Eve said.

"Well, when a Human child becomes ten years old, it`s tradition that they be registered as a Pokémon trainer by a Pokémon professor and the given their first Pokémon so they can get started." Gary explained.

"Get what started?" Eve asked.

"The rest of their lives as a trainer, of course…" Victor explained, "…but what they do as a trainer is really up to them." He added.

"What do they usually do?" Eve asked.

"They usually do what Mary did." Victor replied.

"You mean humans make it a regular thing to go and kidnap some random Pokémon right after they`ve had breakfast?" Eve asked sarcastically.

"Well, sorta," Gary replied, "while it is true that most youngsters often use their time to catch as many Pokémon as they can, they usually grow out of it at some point, and then go about living completely stable lives, while taking very good care of the Pokémon they have caught over the years; in return, most captured Pokémon provide aid to their owners and in time become very good friends to them."

"Although," Victor interjected, "not all humans are good."

"What do you mean?" Eve asked, now feeling worried.

"What Victor means is that there are some people in world that do not hold any respect for the needs of their Pokémon," Gary explained, "but those kinds of people are few and far between and I can say with good certainty that Mary is not among them; she`s overly energetic, but a good person overall."

"How do you know that, is she your kit?" Eve asked.

"No, no, Mary`s not my child," Gary replied, "you see, as a Professor, it`s my job to assess whether or not a prospective Pokémon trainer is ready to be a trainer." He explained.

"But she kidnapped Eric! Shouldn't you have seen something like that coming when you let her be a trainer; shouldn't you have done something?!" Eve asked forcefully.

"Eve, you have to understand that what Mary did was not kidnapping; what she did is known as a Pokémon capture-" Gary replied.

"Well, I don't care what you call it; it looked like kidnapping to me." Eve commented, interrupting Gary.

Upon hearing this, Gary gave out an exasperated sigh, "I don't know what to tell you" he said to Eve, "that`s just the way of the world, I can`t change it."

"But I don't care how the world does or doesn`t work and I don't want to have it changed," Eve said, "I just want my friend back!" she stated.

"You know, you could just find a way to buy your friend." Drowser commented, interrupting the entire scene.

An apprehensive silence pervaded the room as all eyes were on the Drowzee, who at this point was eating a sandwich while leaning against a table; a smug look was spread across his face (he liked being the center of attention)

"What did you say?" Gary asked.

"What I said was that if her friend was captured, the trainer who owns him has full right to sell him if he or she chooses," Drowser replied, "Eve here could just be the one who buys him."

"And how would expect me to do that?" Eve asked, "I have nothing to offer."

"Not to mention the fact that you`re a Pokémon." Victor commented to Eve.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Eve asked Victor.

"Well, as a species, we humans tend to only do business with our own kind," Gary replied, answering for Victor, "unless…" his voice trailed off.

"Unless what?" Eve asked Gary.

"Unless a human bought your friend in your stead." Gary replied.

"Ummm… What?" Eve asked, completely clueless.

"Well, I could come with you to find your friend; then, when we find him, I purchase him from Mary and set him free." Gary explained.

"What would you get out of all this?" Eve asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Gary asked in reply.

"I may not know much about humans, but I do know that no one does anything for free, no matter what specie you are," Eve replied in a matter-of-fact voice, "so I ask again: what do you get from all this?"

"An adventure." Gary replied.

"I don`t get it." Eve said, cocking her head to the side a bit.

"If I help you to find your friend, I`ll finally have an excuse to go outside for more than a few hours" Gary explained, "I used to go out on mad adventures all the time, but lately I`ve been so busy that even a leisurely holiday has been out of the question." He added.

"What about the Pokémon that you care for; who will take care of them?" Eve asked.

"Don`t worry about it, there`s no end to the number of interns and professors that are just dying to work here; the residents will be well taken care of." Gary replied.

Eve was about to say something, but she was interrupted by a beeping sound from a device on the wall. Gary walked up to the device and pressed a button next to a small display screen and it suddenly turned white. A split second later, the screen changed from white to showing a man`s face. The man had an evil look about him, though you could not see his eyes through his Men-in–Black like sunglasses; the moment he saw the man`s face, Gary`s expression turned sullen and hollow, as if someone he knew just died. "We`re here for the pickup." The Man on the screen stated.

"I know..." Gary replied, his voice was tinted with sorrow as the screen turned white once more and then turned off. Gary turned to Victor and Eve, (Drowser had left the room the moment he saw the man on the screen) "Victor, he can`t see her." Gary said to his Jolteon while pointing to Eve.

"Got it," Victor replied, "Eve, come on, I`ve got a place for you to hide." He said as he began to usher her out of the room.

"Why do I need to hide?" Eve asked.

"Because that man is the worst example of humanity." Gary replied to Eve as she was hurried away by Victor.

Victor brought Eve to a supply closet. "I need you to go in there and stay quiet." Victor ordered Eve. The Eevee complied, but before she could ask why, Victor had already shut the door and left down the hallway.

Eve sat there for a few moments, confused with the recent sequence of events, especially the part where Gary and Victor felt like they needed to hide her. "I think I`ll go find out what`s going on around here..." Eve commented to herself. Then she shoved the door open and stepped out into the hallway. After retracing her steps for a moment, Eve started to her muffled voices from the dining area,

After a few more steps, Eve could now hear the voices coherently, it seemed like there was a heated argument taking place.

"Why, why do you do this?!" spoke a voice that sounded like Gary, "someone puts their heart and soul into raising a Pokémon and then you come along and take them away!"

"Because it is the law and I am a soldier of the law." spoke another man, his voice was filled with avarice and self-entitlement.

"Oh, don`t you give me that line of rhetoric, you do this for your own sick pleasure; you enjoy watching people suffer as they watch their life`s work get taken away, never to come back!" Gary yelled at the man.

"I assure you, that is not the reason why I do this job-" The man began to say.

"And what is the reason," Gary snapped, interrupting the man, "do you sell them on the black market or something!?" he asked accusingly.

"That is illegal, I would never be caught doing that," the man replied, "now, are you going to hand it over, or do I need to call for backup?"

After hearing what sounded like electronic beeps and a soft hydraulic hiss, Eve heard Gary say, "Here, take him and leave me alone." he said, his voice had a defeated tone to it.

"Glad to see that you can listen to reason, Professor," the man said, "I would hate to have to take that Jolteon away from you because you resisted."

It did not matter specie you were, if you were there, you would have felt the absolute rage that was emanating from Gary at that man`s comment as easily as you would have felt a counter under your hand, but Gary did nothing. He simply said, "Get out of my lab..." in a lowered tone that would have terrified a raging Gyrados.

"Alright, there`s no need to get violent, I have what I came for." the man said, his voice carried tones of glee the fact that he pushed Gary`s nerves and was about to get away with it.

With that, the man`s footsteps receded as he left the building. After Eve heard the sliding door at the lab`s entrance close, she heard Gary pull up a chair and sit down. When she was sure that the man with the sunglasses was gone, Eve took a few tentative steps around the corner to see if Gary was okay,

Eve saw Gary sitting at the dining area`s table with his head in his hands and softly crying, as if it would be an embarrassment for anyone to see him in such a state. "Are you alright?" Eve asked him,

Upon hearing her, Gary wiped the tears off of his eyes and turned in his chair to face her, "I`m sorry, I don`t understand you." He said apologetically.

"Oh, right…" said Drowser, who had just worked up the courage to come back into the room.

Drowser`s forehead flashed a pinkish purple hue for a moment, then he said, "Go ahead, Eve, he can understand you now."

"Thank you, Drowser," Eve said, "so, umm, are you alright, Gary?" she asked.

"I`m alright, Eve." Gary replied.

"Who was that man?" Eve asked, "and who did you give to him?"

"That man was Parlin," Gary replied, "he`s a collector for the CPPS." He explained.

"What`s that?" Eve asked.

"The Consortium for Public and Pokémon Safety." Victor interjected.

"What do they do?" Eve asked.

"Well, whenever a Pokémon gets to a high enough level of power, it`s their job to determine whether or not their trainer is capable of keeping them under control, if they can`t, then a collector comes along and takes the 'uncontrollable' away to be put down." Gary replied.

"What do mean by 'put down'?" Eve asked.

"He means killed, Eve." Victor replied, he had just walked back into the room to hear all this.

"But, why?..." Eve asked in shock, "…they`ve done nothing wrong."

"Because that`s the way of things!" Gary replied sharply, "don`t you get it? There are things in the world that you can`t change! No matter how much you want them to, they never change!" at that last sentence, Gary got out of his chair stormed out of the dining area.

But before he made it to the hallway, Eve asked, "Does it have to be?"

At this, Gary turned around and said to Eve, "Unless you can magically go rescue that Pokémon from a government facility without being seen or heard, then yes, it does."

"What if I could?" Eve asked.

"Then I would be grateful beyond words, but it`s not possible, Eve, it`s just not possible." Gary replied.

"I don`t believe you, nothing`s impossible, not after what I`ve seen-" Eve began to say.

"And what have you seen?" Gary asked.

"Well, I`ve seen myself evolve, un-evolve and then evolve again into something completely different and I thought that was impossible, so why can`t this be possible." Eve replied.

"What are you talking about?" Gary asked, thinking that Eve was slightly off her rocker.

"You remember that Jolteon that fought with that Arcanine yesterday?" Eve asked.

"Yeah, they never found out where it ran off to…" Victor replied, "…wait a minute, you're not telling us that you`re that Jolteon, are you? Because that would be just ridiculous." He said.

"That`s exactly what I`m claiming." Eve replied plainly.

To be continued…


	5. Does it Have to be Bad?

"Ok, did ya` hit your head or something? Pokémon don`t un-evolve!" Victor stated, he was now absolutely sure that Eve was completely off her rocker,

"Well I`m telling you that I can, I`ve already done it twice now, first into a Vaporeon and then into a Jolteon!"

"Alright then, if you were a Jolteon at one point, then you would know about the funny thing that happens to our vision when we evolve!" Victor said, now quite sure that he just caught Eve in her lie,

"Oh, do you mean those weird glowey things that I saw everywhere?" Eve asked,

At this, Victor just stood there, completely taken aback by Eve`s correct answer,

Gary was watching this argument with a great deal of curiosity, after Victor stopped talking, he finally decided to ask Eve about something, "Eve, you said that you evolved into two different members of the Eevee evolution phenotype; what exactly caused you to un-evolve?" he asked,

"I don`t really know, it mostly seems to happen when I fall asleep." Eve replied,

"Hmm, this is quite interesting..." Gary said in the kind of muttering whisper that you see coming from someone lost in thoughts and equations, "...umm, Eve, would you consent to a Pokémon scan?" he asked,

"What`s that?" Eve asked, tilting her head to the side a bit,

"Well, to put it simply, a Pokémon scanner is a machine that evaluates every variable that makes you, well… you." Gary explained,

"Ok, I didn`t get a single word of that; is Drowser still translating or what?" Eve asked,

"Nah, I`m still here, nobody understands Gary when he gets all science-y and stuff." Drowser commented,

"Come with me, Eve!" Gary said as he briskly made his way down the hall,

"Where`s he going?" Eve asked,

"Probably to the Pokémon scanner." Victor replied,

"Or to the mess hall." Drowser interjected,

"Oh, quit it, all you ever think about is food." Victor snapped at the Drowsee,

"I do not! Eve, what do you think?" Drowser asked,

But when he turned around, Eve was already down the hall and rounding the corner to the room that Gary went in,

"Hey, wait up!" Drowser exclaimed as he hurriedly followed Eve and Victor, who had already made it halfway down the hall,

When he reached the entrance, he saw Eve standing next to Gary as the professor was typing something into a console,

"Now, Eve, when you step into the scanner, you`ll see a bright blue light, and that will be it; then you just step out of the scanner." Gary explained,

"And the scanner would be this thing, right?" Eve asked, pointing a paw towards a large, clear plastic tube in the middle of the room,

"Yep, I looks really cool doesn`t it?" Gary replied,

Eve examined the large tube, it did not look very interesting to her, save for the fact that is was see-through, it had a great many wires trailing from the bottom as well as from the top, giving the whole thing the appearance of a large, hollow plastic tree,

Then a thought struck Eve, "Where`s Hector, is he alright?" She asked Gary,

"Who`s Hector?" Gary asked in reply,

"The Tauros that I saved from the gang of Arcanine." Eve replied,

"You talking about the police corps Arcanine, the ones that had their butts handed to them by that Jolteon chick?" Drowser commented as he entered the room,

"Yeah, that Jolteon is me." Eve said to Drowser,

"What are you going on about? You`re not a Jolteon, that Jolteon was awesome, you, not so much…" Drowser remarked while taking a bite out of a freshly made sandwich,

"Ok, Drowser, two questions: Were you even listening to the conversation and where did you get that sandwich?" Victor asked,

"I have a hard time translating and listening at the same time..." Drowser replied, "...and I won`t tell you where I got the sandwich." he added,

"Never mind all that, let Eve finish, then you can go back to your spat." Gary said, stopping the both of them in their tracks, "...go on, Eve, you were talking about Hector?" he added,

"Like I said, Hector is the Tauros that I saved from the weird humans with those Arcanine, he`s the one who crashed through the weird see-through thing in the big den with all the Pokéballs. I picked him up after he was captured and put him in an alleyway-" Eve replied,

But Gary interrupted Eve mid-sentence, "So that`s why you were in the alleyway..." he remarked,

"Yes, that`s why, and I would like to know if he`s okay." Eve said,

"Oh, don`t worry, Hector`s fine, I have him right here." Gary replied as he produced a Pokéball from his coat pocket, showing it to Eve,

"Oh, thank goodness, I thought you handed him over to that man." Eve replied, breathing a sigh of relief,

"Oh, no, I would never hand a peaceful Pokémon over to Parlin." Gary stated,

"So, who did you give to that man?" Eve asked,

"I handed him the Arcanine that you apparently fought yesterday, assuming your claim is true." Gary replied,

When she heard this, Eve paused for a moment before saying, "Why would you do that?" she asked Gary

Gary pressed a few buttons on a console near the base of the scanner, causing the scanner to open with a soft hiss,

"I had to, it`s the law." Gary replied,

"What`s a 'law', anyway?" Eve asked,

"A law is something that says that you have to do something, though most laws are meant to tell you to not do something." Gary explained,

"Are you sure this 'scanner' thing is safe?" Eve asked Gary, taking a reflexive step back from the machine,

"Of course it is, Eve, I scan Pokémon with this thing all the time." Gary replied with a reassuring tone,

"Don`t worry, Eve, I`ve been scanned a buncha` times, and look at me." Victor said as he came into the room,

"Ok, if you say so; so, I just step inside and then there`s a flash of light and then it`s done, right?" Eve said, tentatively stepping closer to the scanner,

Eve stepped inside the scanner and it silently closed around her, she jumped when it clicked to a close,

"Alright, now just hold still for a second..." Gary said as he pressed a few more keys on the console,

Eve saw a bright flash of light that filled the chamber for a split second, followed by hearing the soft hiss of the scanner opening,

Eve quickly scrambled backwards out of the scanner, making sure to put a good bit of distance between her and the scanner without looking too frightened,

"Yeah, I had the same reaction when I was scanned the first time." Victor commented with a slight laugh,

"What reaction? I didn`t give a reaction." Eve said, looking around as if she was trying to see if someone was looking,

"Yeah you did…" Victor said, "…So, Gary, what`s the data this time?" he asked the professor,

"Well, from the looks of, Eve is telling the truth." Gary replied,

"You`re kidding, right?" Victor asked,

"Nope, the data is conclusive, Eve can indeed evolve and then un-evolve, though I have no idea how this is even possible, but it does prove a theory of mine." Gary replied, scratching his head,

"What theory?" Victor asked,

"Well, back when I was attending Cerulean university, me and a couple of fellow students got to talking about Eevees, one of my friends, I don`t remember which one, claimed that he read an account of an Eevee that evolved into an Umbreon, but the Eevee really wanted to be a Flareon, so he simply reverted back to and Eevee and then found a Fire Stone…" Gary replied, "…I theorized that if that Eevee ever existed, his decedents would be able to do the same, or at least have a variation of that trait." He added,

"Why would you come up with a weird theory like that?" Drowser asked,

"My fellow students and I were encouraged to think outside the Pokéball when it came to Pokémon; and besides, I almost won a bet for the most outlandish theory for that day." Gary replied,

"Who won the bet?" Drowser asked,

"Never mind that; were missing the point: Eve can do what she said she could and the data proves it, which means we might have a slight chance of rescuing that Arcanine." Gary replied,

"Umm, you kinda lost me there. How does me being able to evolve more than once give us a better chance?" Eve asked,

"Actually, it`s not because you can evolve more than once; moreover, it`s because when you do evolve, you power levels are the highest I have seen in a very long time." Gary replied,

"How do you know? You`ve never seen me evolve." Eve remarked,

"Your power levels are displayed here..." Gary explained while pointing at a video screen next to the scanner, "...this is why I asked to scan you." he added as he brought the screen down to Eve`s level,

The scanner displayed a rotating 3D rendered image of Eve in the comical pose of covering her eyes with her paws while on the floor, but beyond that, there were several bars and graphs littered about the whole of it; Eve could not make sense of any of it.

"You see that bar there?..." Gary said, pointing at a line on the screen beneath the word "Defense", it was around the same length as the rest of the other bars, the image of Eve was still rotating next to it, "...that`s your Defense." He explained,

Then Gary retrieved another screen and showed it to Eve,

"And here is the Defense stats of a regular Eevee..." He said as the screen displayed a similar set of bars, though this time next to an Eevee that was standing up straight,

"I don`t see anything different." Eve commented,

"Nor would you. As an Eevee, you are not very different from others of your specie..." Gary explained, "...now let`s see what happens when a regular Eevee evolves into a Jolteon." he said as he pressed a button on the top-left of the screen with the other Eevee`s image on it,

When he pressed the button, the screen shifted; now there was an image of a Jolteon on it along with a different set of bars,

"Look at the bar for Defense, Eve..." Gary said, pointing at the corresponding bar, "...you see how low it is compared to the other stats?" he asked Eve,

"Yeah, it is kinda low..." Eve replied, the bar was indeed lower than the rest by a large margin, the same went for the special defense,

"What`s that one?" Eve asked, pointing at a bar so long that it had a second bar just below it for the overlap,

"That one is for 'Speed', which means how quickly you can move; the higher the stat, the faster you can move." Gary explained in reply

"Now, let`s look at your own stats." Gary said as he pressed a button on the top-left of Eve`s stat screen,

When he did, the Eve`s picture was replaced by an image of her as a Jolteon, though this time she was no longer in the humorous pose,

"Look at the Defense stats." Gary said to Eve,

"Wow, it`s twice as high as the other Jolteon`s Defense." Eve commented,  
"You saw that, very good Eve. Now, take a gander at your Speed." Gary said,

Eve looked at her Speed stats and to her surprise, they were almost double that of the other Jolteon`s stats. The other stats were also similarly higher,

"What does this all mean?" Eve asked,

"It means that when you evolve, your innate abilities surpass even those of championship winning Pokémon of your specie; not to mention the fact that you can change what evolution you are at a whim-" Gary explained,

But Eve interrupted him, "Well, I wouldn`t really say that I can change at will. I`ve only done it twice and both times I was not in control of when I evolved, or even when." she said,

"Hmm, do you know what caused your evolution either time?" Gary asked, standing up straight and scratching his head,

"Not really, all I know is that both times I returned to being an Eevee, it was while I was sleeping, but when I evolved both times in the first place, they happened during completely different events." Eve replied,

"Hmm, could you explain those two events in better detail?" Gary asked, pacing a bit with his hand on his chin,

"Well, when I evolved into a Vaporeon, it was while I was fighting a Squirtle; he shot me with Water Gun once and it hurt, but when he shot me a second time, I evolved..." Eve explained in reply, "...but when I evolved into a Jolteon, I was standing on a puddle of water; afterwards, Hector told me that I was 'Electrocuted' or something, but I have no idea what that means." she continued,

"That means that you were caught in a current on electricity." Victor explained,

"Which is the element of a Jolteon, of course! It the same as if you were hit by a move like Thunder-Shock! That`s what caused you to evolve!" Gary exclaimed with a triumphant snap of his fingers,

"Umm, I don`t get it." Eve said sheepishly,

"Oh, right, what I mean is that you evolve when you are exposed to any given element, this is similar to regular Eevees, but instead of requiring a purified form of an element, like an Element Stone, you only need to come in contact with the element, regardless of it`s state of form." Gary explained,

"But what causes me to un-evolve?" Eve asked,

"I think it has something to do with your moves, you see, your form as an Eevee is the only one with the Rest move. It might be the case that your body automatically reverts to that form in order to heal from your wounds." Gary replied,

"Well, I was hurt pretty bad both times, but when I woke up, I was fine, so that does make sense; at least a little bit." Eve remarked,

"Though, what doesn`t make sense is the question as to why it took two exposures to Water in order to cause you to evolve, but when it came to Electricity, it only took one exposure to cause you to evolve." Gary commented,

"Maybe it`s because Electricity is more potent than Water." Victor laughingly remarked,

"Actually, a Meowth did hit me with Zap Cannon some time before I was electrocuted." Eve said,

"Then I guess that means that you need to be exposed to any given element twice for you to evolve: once to essentially prime you for evolution, then a second time to start the evolution for real." Gary surmised,

"Yeesh, that sounds like that hurts." Drowser commented, still eating his sandwich,

"Yeah, it does hurt." Eve stated,

"How do you know?" Drowser asked,

"Because she`s the one that has to go through all that! Weren`t you even listening?!" Victor asked Drowser with a sharp tone,

"Nope." Drowser replied, finishing off his sandwich,

"Unbelievable! You`re unbelievable, you know that! Are you deaf or something?!" Victor asked Drowser,

"Meh, Not really deaf, just don`t care." Drowser stated in a matter-of-fact way,

"Why you little-" Victor began to say,

But he was interrupted by Gary, "Will you two quit it; we have more pressing issues than some spat!" he snapped at the both of them,

"Oh, right, sorry." Victor replied to Gary,

"Oh, sure, just go ahead and suck up to the boss… whiny." Drowser commented under his breath,

"What did you call me!? That`s it, I`m done-" Victor shouted, the fur on is back spiking up,

"Victor!" Gary shouted in a voice that resounded through the room,

Victor immediately backed down, his ears down,

"Sorry, Gary." Victor said,

"That`s alright, but the both of you need to stop; a Pokémon`s life is at stake here." Gary said in reply to Victor`s apology,

"Umm, how are we going to save Gobel, anyway?" Eve asked,

"That is a good question, Eve…" Gary replied, "…and I believe that I might have a key to the answer." He said,

"What do you mean?" asked Victor,

"Well, the thing is, whenever Parlin shows up to take a Pokémon, he is always driving the same vehicle…" Gary replied, "…and I know that the CPPS facility is in Pewter City." He explained,

"So we`re going to ambush the car on the road? Nice!" Victor exclaimed,

"Actually, no; what are going to do is to quietly steal Gobel from them while they are resting in the Venomoth hotel in Viridian city…" Gary explained, "…I`ve heard rumors that a spin-off of Team Rocket has made their base camp near there; which means that we can easily claim that they were the culprits." He added,

"Then why didn`t we do all that before; why did we have to wait for someone like Eve to show up when we could have done it ourselves?!" Victor asked, raising his voice,

"Because I couldn`t risk getting caught by Parlin. If he caught us, his guards and their Pokémon would be more than a match for even you, Victor…" Gary replied, "…but with Eve`s raw strength, we might have a chance if a confrontation occurs." He added,

"But I`m not evolved, Mr. Oak; how can I be of any help?" Eve asked,

"Actually, you are closer to evolving than you think, Eve." Gary replied,

"What do you mean?" Eve asked,

"From the looks of the data from your scan, you are already primed to evolve in to the Psychic type evolution: Espeon." Gary explained,

"But, how? I`ve never been hit by a Psychic type move before." Eve said,

"Uh, yeah you have…" Drowser interjected, "…I used Hypnosis on you earlier; remember?" he asked Eve,

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that." Eve remarked,

"So, the plan is to make our way to Viridian city and attempt to steal Gobel from Parlin…" Gary said to all three of the Pokémon, "…but if, and I do mean 'if', a confrontation occurs, Drowser is to use Confusion on you and cause you to evolve into an Espeon." He explained,

"Why can`t we just evolve her now so I don`t have to walk anywhere?" Drowser asked,

"Because we can`t risk Eve falling asleep and then un-evolving; so you have to come along…" Gary replied, "…and besides, it`s about time you got outside and went for a good walk." He added,

"Aww, man… fine." Drowser complained,

"Well then that's settled, we`re heading to Viridian City!" Gary exclaimed while pointing towards the entrance to the scanning room,

An awkward silence pervaded the room as the three Pokémon simply stared at Gary, each of them had either an embarrassed or dumbfounded look on their face,

"Really?" Victor asked Gary,

"Er, never mind, let`s go." Gary said, disappointed that no one liked his theatrics,

Just as everyone was about to leave the scanning room, Eve`s stomach gave out a very loud grumble, startling everyone in the room except for herself,

"Umm, can it wait just a little bit? I haven't eaten anything for a couple of days." Eve pleaded, her stomach making a grumble of agreement,

"Ah, yes, I completely forgot…" Gary replied, "…well, since Parlin`s route takes about four days to go around the Viridian Forest as well as Mt. Moon, we can afford to take a moment to rest and of course to eat."

"Thank you, Gary." Eve said appreciatively,

The four of them ate a very large dinner (Eve ate more than the other three combined) and went to rest until morning,

Eve awoke from the Pokemon sleeping chamber that Gary had set up for her to see the sun just barely coming up over the horizon,

She looked around and much to her surprise, there was a Vulpix sitting at the doorway with flecks of ash on his fur,

"Eric?" Eve asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with her paw,

"Eve." Said the Vulpix,

Eve got out of her sleeping area, but before she made it to the floor, the Vulpix walked out of sight behind the doorway`s entrance,

"No, wait, Eric, come back!" Eve shouted as she hurriedly followed the Vulpix,

When she reached the doorway, Eve turned and saw the Vulpix going around the far corner of the hallway,

Eve quickly rounded the corner herself, only to see the Vulpix walking towards a little girl with a Squirtle at her side,

"No, Eric; What are you doing?! Come back!" Eve shouted at the top of her lungs, but the Vulpix did not listen and continued to walk towards the girl,

Eve chased after Eric, but before she even took a step, she felt something grab her tail,

Eve turned around to see some, thing, had ahold of her and would not let go,

It had a featureless, pitch-black complexion, like that of a hole that has gained cohesive form, but a form nonetheless,

Terrified, Eve struggled to free herself, but to no avail; the thing would not relinquish her tail,

"Let go of me; I have to save him!" Eve yelled at the thing, but it said nothing, it only held her tail tighter,

The Vulpix still walked away towards the girl, his form seemed to start fading away,

"Give it up, Eve," spoke a voice, "it just the way of the world and there`s nothing you can do about it."

"What; who said that?!" Eve asked in a panic,

Eve turned back to the creature that was holding her tail; much to her surprise, the voice`s owner was Gary,

He was standing next to the pitch-black thing; he held a pokeball in his hand, as if he was the creature`s trainer; Gary`s eyes were as black as the creature,

"Mr. Oak, what are you doing?!" Eve asked,

"Eve..." Replied Gary,

"Get this thing off of me!" Eve demanded,

"Eve." Gary said again,

"I have to save Eric; let me go!" Eve shouted,

"Eve; wake up!" Shouted Gary,

Eve suddenly found herself back in her sleeping area; Victor was shaking her awake,

"What is it; is it time to leave already?" Eve asked through a yawn,

"No, not yet, but there is something that I need to tell you, follow me." Victor replied,

"What`s going on?" Eve asked again, thoughts of her recent dream started to emerge. What did Victor have to say?

Eve followed Victor out of the sleeping area and down the hallway towards an enclosed courtyard in the back of the laboratory; a tree resided in the center, providing the whole area with a peaceful feeling, the moon was high in the sky amongst the stars, painting everything with a blue-grey hue,

Yet the tone in Victor`s voice and the way he walked spoke of something foreboding and disheartening,

They went to the tree at the center and then Victor turned around to face Eve,

"I don`t have very much time to speak to you without Gary hearing, but I need to tell you this." Victor explained,

"What is it?" Eve asked, the look on Victor`s face was unsettling, as if he was about to tell her that someone she knew had just passed away, but she knew for a fact that this was not the case,

"Do you know why there is a power-limitation law?" Victor asked Eve,

"Before yesterday, I didn`t even know that it existed, so no." Eve replied,

"The reason it exists is because Gary created it." Victor said,

"What; why would he do something like that!?" Eve asked, the memories of her dream were now becoming more vivid,

"He did it because there was an incident about thirty years ago." Victor explained,

"What kind of incident; what could have happened that was enough to make Gary invent a law that kills innocent Pokémon!?" Eve asked, her voice was filled with anger and dismay,

"The law didn`t start out that way, Eve," Victor said, "but it was not long before it became that horrible rule that you know today." He added,

"So, what happened?" Eve asked,

"Well, the incident that started all this involved a challenger for the title of Pokémon Champion," Victor explained, "apparently, after losing to the reigning Champion, this challenger became so angry that he took it out on the rest of the world, destroying city after city with no one to stop him and his Pokémon."

"Did someone stop him?" Eve asked,

"Yes, Gary and I stopped him, the challenger was using mainly flying types, so we had the upper hand," Victor replied, "but that didn`t stop the challenger from causing a great deal of damage before Gary and I put a stop to it all." He added,

"Why didn`t the Champion stop him?" Eve asked,

"To this day no one knows, in fact, the Champion simply disappeared after defending his title and never returned, not even to defend his title from the Current Champion, who won by default." Victor replied,

"What happened next?" Eve asked,

"Afterwards, Gary and the other Professors were called to a meeting with United Regions council to discuss what just happened," Victor replied, "the whole of the Council wanted the balance of political power in the world to no longer be in the hands of Gary and the other Professors, who for a long time were basically the rule makers for the entire world. The Council blamed the Professors for encouraging trainers like that challenger to make their Pokémon strong enough to cause the kind of damage that he caused; some even went so far as to say that the Professors had planned for that incident to happen." He explained,

"But, why? That doesn`t make sense, even I know that you can`t predict something like that." Eve said,

"That`s exactly what Gary said," Victor remarked, "but the Council was not going to listen to him."

"How did Gary end up inventing that law?" Eve asked,

"About halfway through the meeting, there was a speaker that started to convince the Council that all Pokémon were evil; that man went so far as to suggest that all trained Pokémon should be put to sleep and the training of Pokémon be banned for good throughout the world," Victor replied, "the biggest problem was that the Council was starting to agree with the man. But Gary quickly stepped in with the plans for the Consortium for Pokémon and Public Safety."

After saying that, Victor took a breath and turned away from Eve before saying, "The original plan was make sure that all trainers be given clear guidance on how to treat Pokémon with care, as well as make sure that they know the rules of good sportsmanship when it came to Pokémon Battles; the problem was that, in order to appease the Council, Gary had to put an addendum that gave the CPPS the right to take Pokémon that were considered too much for their trainer to handle and then put those Pokémon to sleep," he explained, "over time, the determining factor of a trainer`s ability to control their Pokémon shifted from test that determines a Pokémon`s tendency to disobey their trainer to simply whether or not the trainer themselves carried the appropriate Gym Badges for their Pokémon's power level."

"What happened after that?" Eve asked,

"After that, the CPPS became more and more twisted and warped; today, more often than not you`ll see a trainer quickly hide their Pokémon from sight if you ask them about it for fear that you might be trying to gain a reward for turning in a Pokémon that exceeded their power limit," Victor replied, "many have even given up on Pokémon so they don`t have to go through losing their friend."

"That`s horrible, why would anyone have let it all go that far, why didn`t anyone notice how bad it was getting?" Eve asked, the memories of her dream were now less vivid,

"Because it didn`t happen all at once; this whole series of events took place over the course of thirty years," Victor explained, "humans don`t see things the way that we do; they more often then not forget the important details of their own histories; some even believe that this is how it has been since the beginning of time and that there is no changing it; even Gary falls prey to that belief once in a while."

"Why did you tell me this, Victor?" Eve asked,

"Because I want you to know before someone can tell you a warped version of the story and convince you that Gary is a villain," Victor explained, "he did it all to save my life and I don`t want his greatest hope to hate him just as he was about to redeem himself."

"'Greatest hope'… who are you talking about?" Eve asked,

"You, Eve, I am talking about you," Victor replied, "last night, when you stated that you were going to save that Arcanine from Parlin, I saw a look on Gary`s face that I had not seen in a long time: hope. Seeing him finally be hopeful again makes me feel like we could actually fix the world and put everything back to normal." As he spoke, Victor`s eyes began to tear up a little and his started to crack,

"I ask you, Eve, please help me and Gary to undo the CPPS and fix the world and in return we will help you find your friend Eric; I promise." Victor said,

"Alright, I promise to help you and Gary." Eve stated,

"Thank you, Eve," Victor replied, "now I guess that it`s time to go back to bed; we have to get up early in the morning if we are to have any chance of saving Gobel."

"Yeah, you`re right, see you in the morning, Victor." Eve said as the two began to make their way back to their sleeping areas,

Eve slept peacefully for the rest of the night.

To be Continued…


	6. Going to the Forest

Chapter Six

(FinalFantasy8GardenThemeGoesHere)

Eve laid there in her Pokébed as peaceful as she often was when she slept in her den beneath her tree in the forest.

However, the rising sunlight would put a stop to that; creeping over the edge of the window sill, it slowly made its way to Eve`s eyes to greet her.

"Ahh, what the!?" Eve sleepily exclaimed as she jostled around in her bed when the glare hit her eyes.

All of Eve`s jostling bore an unfortunate result, as she suddenly found herself on a one-way trip to the floor with a dull thud.

Gary rushed into the room when he heard the sound with a look of concern on his face, but then began to smile a little when he saw Eve halfway wrapped up in her blanket and completely upside-down.

"Eve, are you alright?" the Professor asked the Eevee.

"I`m fine, hold on a second." Eve replied as she struggled to regain her footing.

Seeing Eve scramble to her feet from such an awkward position drew a bigger smile from Gary`s face, but he politely restrained from laughing aloud.

"What`s going on?" Eve asked the Professor after she had regained her footing, her memories of yesterday occluded by the fog of half-sleepiness.

"I was just about to wake you up so we can get going, but it seems that the floor took care of that for me." Gary replied half-sarcastically.

"Get what going?" Eve asked.

"Don`t you remember? We are going to save that Arcanine, Gobel." Gary replied.

The moment she heard Gobel`s name, Eve`s sleepiness instantly cleared and she suddenly remembered, "Oh, shoot, I`m sorry!" Eve exclaimed, "I didn`t make us lose too much time; did I?" she asked Gary.

"Of course not; Parlin usually takes his time when he`s traveling cross-region, so we have plenty of time to catch up with him." Gary reassured Eve.

"Whew, that`s a relief," Eve commented, "so, umm… what are we doing now?"

"Well at this point, we have everything ready, so all we need to do is-" Gary started to say.

But Eve interrupted him, "Umm, how can you understand me? I don`t see Drowser anywhere..." she asked as she looked around the room for the Drowzee translator.

"I`m out here." Drowser replied from out in the hallway; he was holding a half-eaten sandwich.

"Oh, well that makes sense," Eve said, "what were you saying?" she asked the Professor.

"To put it simply, we`re ready to head for Viridian Forest." Gary replied.

"Umm, what are you talking about, what did you need to get ready?" Eve asked.

"Oh, right I forgot," Gary said, "whenever we humans go on an adventure, we usually bring along supplies for the journey." he explained.

"Why would you burden yourself with carrying things; doesn`t that just slow us down?" Eve asked.

"Well, it does slow us down a little bit, but on the upside you get to have food already prepared for you when you need it; provided you packed it all beforehand." Gary replied.

"I don`t get it, but I guess if you want to carry a bunch of stuff, that`s your deal; I can always find a Pidgey or two if I get hungry, so I`m fine." Eve commented.

"What about when there are no Pidgeys around to eat?" Gary asked Eve.

When she heard this Eve paused a moment, she had never thought about the possibility of having nothing around for her to hunt, she had always had a ready supply of edible things around for as long as she could remember.

"Did you pack some Pidgeys?" Eve asked Gary.

"If you are asking whether or not I packed some meat, then yes I have plenty for the three of us, as well as a supply of vegetables for Drowser and a water filtering device; don`t worry, we`re covered." The Professor replied.

"Ok, that`s a relief," Eve commented, "so, which way do we head to find Gobel, anyway?" She asked.

"Well, first we need to get out of the building, then beyond that I we just need to follow the road to Viridian Forest," Gary replied, "beyond that, we will make our way to Viridian City, where Parlin should be staying at the Venomoth hotel."

"Umm, what`s a 'hotel'?" Eve asked, tilting her head to the side.

"You`ll find out when we get there," Victor replied as he entered the room, "but for now we have to concentrate on getting there."

"Speaking of which, we should get going," Gary interjected, "I already packed the car."

"What`s a car?" Eve asked.

When he heard this, Victor gave a groan of exasperation, "How bout` this: while were driving to Viridian Forest, I`ll answer all your questions," he said to Eve, "but we have to get going now or we`ll have no chance of saving that Arcanine." The Jolteon pointed out.

"Well, we can`t go right away, there are a few things that I need to check before we can get going," Gary interjected, "namely we need to make sure that the Tauros that Eve rescued is alright."

Then Eve suddenly remembered, "How is Hector doing, anyway?" She asked.

"He`s doing just fine, I have him in the indoor habitat so that no one can find him, but we should go check on him and let him know that you`re going somewhere." Gary replied.

"What`s an 'Indoor habitat'?" Eve asked as she started to follow Gary and Victor towards the habitat.

"You`ll find out in a moment, Eve." Victor replied.

The four of them –including a complaining Drowser- made their way through the lab to the where Hector was staying.

When they arrived, Eve saw that the enclosure was a white room that looked like it had no skylight to let in the sun, yet she could clearly see what looked like a sky on the ceiling.

"What do you think Eve?" Gary said with a note of pride in his voice, "this habitat is my favorite invention, it mimics the effects of being outside precisely, making it perfect for any Pokémon that needs fresh air, yet can`t be outside for some reason."

Eve saw a Tauros standing near the center of the habitat; he had bandages around his chest covering the burn he received yesterday; she could not help but feel bad because she was not hurt at all.

"Eve? Is that you?" Hector exclaimed when he noticed Eve, "I thought you evolved!" He said as he neared the opening of the habitat where Eve and the others were standing.

"I know, it`s a little weird, but I can apparently un-evolve." Eve explained.

"Isn`t that impossible?" Hector asked.

"I think I can explain this all better." Gary interjected.

A few minutes later, after Gary finished explaining Eve`s abilities to Hector…

"So that explains it," Hector said, "you know, I wondered why you were able to survive that electricity, but now it all makes sense."

"So what are you going to do now, did you find Eric?" Hector asked.

"No, I`m still looking for him," Eve replied, "Mr. Oak and Victor have promised to help me find him, but after we save Gobel."

"Who`s Gobel, was he captured by the police?" Hector asked.

"Not quite, he`s an Arcanine that I fought to make sure that I could save you," Eve replied, "but because of that fight he`s going to be put to sleep, and it`s all my fault, so we`re going to go steal him back from a man called Parlin." She explained.

"Put to sleep… you mean 'killed', don`t you?" Hector asked Eve.

"Yeah, that`s what that means, or so I`m told." Eve replied.

"I know it`s not good to just let someone die, but Eve, that Arcanine was your enemy; why would you want to help him? I mean, I doubt that he would do the same for you." Hector asked.

"I don`t know that, but even if that is the case, it`s still wrong." Eve replied.

"Alright, I trust you, but it`s still weird." Hector commented.

"What`s so weird about it; wouldn`t you help someone that`s in trouble if you could?" Eve asked.

"I would help someone if I could, there`s no question on that point, but it still a little weird to help your enemy." Hector replied.

"He was only my enemy because he was told to be my enemy, it`s not Gobel`s fault." Eve stated.

"Ok, I-I guess that makes sense," Hector said; then the Tauros took a breath and said, "well, I hope you get to save her."

"Uh, Gobel is a 'he'." Victor mentioned.

"Oh, sorry, I`m not good at remembering a person`s details." Hector replied sheepishly.

After they all finished catching up on events, Eve, Gary, Drowser and Victor all made their way over to the laboratory`s garage.

When they got there, Eve saw what appeared to be an odd looking metal box sitting on top of a bunch of round things, "What is that?" Eve asked.

"Oh, this?" Gary replied, "This is what we humans call a 'car' or 'automobile'." He explained.

"Oh, like that thing you were talking about earlier," Eve said, "what does it do?" She asked,

"It`s a machine that humans built to help move things around." Victor explained in reply as he hopped into the passenger`s seat of the pale-beige vehicle.

"What kinds of things?" Eve asked.

"Well, anything really," Victor replied, "but they mainly use it to move themselves." He explained.

"Why don`t they just walk?" Eve asked.

"Because humans are kind of lazy." Drowser commented as he got in the car.

"Like you`re one to talk," Victor lightly chided the Drowzee, "but regardless, Drowser is correct, albeit only halfway, you see, humans don`t change themselves to suit their surroundings like Pokémon do, instead they change their surroundings to suit them; so for example: instead of growing fur to keep warm in a cold place, a human would build an enclosure to keep the cold out and then start a fire to warm up that enclosure." He explained.

"You say that they 'build an enclosure', that sounds a lot like a den, doesn`t it?" Eve asked as she got into the back seat of the vehicle at Gary`s request.

"Yes, that does indeed sound like one," Gary interjected, "and you`re not the only one that thinks that; in fact, there are several researchers conducting studies to try and figure that particular question out." He added as he got into the driver`s seat.

"Who are they? The researchers, I mean." Eve asked.

"I would love to answer that question, but it would take too long to explain, Eve," Gary replied, "for now, we need to concentrate on getting to Parlin and Gobel; even though he takes his time to get where he`s going, all the same, he`s not going to wait for us to catch up." He explained.

"Oh, right." Eve said.

When Gary started the car, Eve was startled at first by the loud noise of the engine turning over, but after a moment the sound subsided, replaced by a steady, soft rumble as the car began to move through the large concrete garage; oddly enough, the rumbling sound reminded Eve of a purring mother, a notion which comforted her.

As the car neared the exit, Eve chanced to look out of the window just in time for the garage gate to open and the car to exit into the brilliant, sunlit expanse that lay just outside.

Eve stood in the car seat and looked out of the window, wondering how she could be moving without moving her legs as the trees, buildings and road passed by her vision.

Eve wanted to see everything that passed by her eyes so quickly, but every time she would stare at any one item it would zoom away from her sight and another item would catch her eye, only to zoom past like the previous one; all this changing of focus started to make her feel a little nauseous.

The Eevee quickly pulled back from the window and slumped down in the back seat, her face was pale enough to be noticed through her fur.

"Carsick?" Victor asked the nauseous Eevee.

"If that means 'getting sick from looking at moving trees'," Eve replied with a slight vomit-y burp, "then I would say yeah, carsick."

"Yeah, that happened to me the first few times I got into a car." Victor mused.

"Does it ever go away?" Eve asked while she sat there in the middle of her seat and tried to retain her breakfast.

"You get used to it eventually, but it`s mainly caused by trying to look at all of the trees and things that pass by," Victor replied, "so you should be alright if you don`t look out the window." He mentioned.

"Yeah, I kinda` figured that." Eve commented.

After her stomach settled a bit, Eve spoke up, "Hey, Gary, you know that question I had; could you answer it now?" She asked the Professor.

"Umm, which question would that be again? I kind of forgot." Gary asked in reply.

"The one about the researchers and the dens." Eve replied.

"Oh yeah, that one, I remember," Gary said, "yeah, there are a few researchers that are trying to find out the connection between a Human`s house and a Pokémon`s den or nest, –depending on the specie- although it`s mostly to find out who invented the concept of the 'safe enclosure', humans, or Pokémon." The Professor explained.

"Why would they ask a question like that, what use is there in answering it?" Eve asked.

"I`m not sure if there is a use for the answer, but I do know one thing: it is a question, and we humans don`t like it when a question doesn`t have an answer," Gary replied, "it`s part of our basic nature." He added.

"That`s a weird nature if you ask me." Eve commented as she settled in her seat for the rest of the drive.

After about two hours of uneventful driving, Eve chanced to look out the car window just as they neared the edge of an imposing looking forest; the whole thing gave off an atmosphere that was a bit darker than Eve`s home forest, and for some reason, Eve could not shake the feeling that there was something watching them from deep inside the litany of bushes and branches.

"Here it is: Viridian Forest." Gary announced as he began to slow the car down and pull into a small parking lot next to the forest`s entrance.

A sign in the middle of the lot read: "Make memories, not tire tracks. Be mindful, and keep our great forest safe. –respectfully, The Viridian Forest Tourism Council."

In spite of the cheery notion suggested by the metal sign, the lot itself was completely empty, and the uninhibited weeds growing through the cracks in the concrete suggested that it had been empty for quite some time.

"Everyone get through alright?" Gary asked the group as he shut the car off.

"Yeah, were all good, but Eve almost ruined your upholstery." Drowser commented laughingly as he got out of the car.

"Hey, it not my fault that the trees made me feel sick, and besides, I didn`t make a mess anyway." Eve snapped at the Drowsee.

"Eve, there nothing to be ashamed of, carsickness is a common ailment for Pokémon and even humans." Gary interjected in a reassuring tone.

"Yeah, and you shouldn`t take any of Drowser`s comments seriously, he just trying to get you to jump," Victor said as he got out of the car as well, "and besides, I really don`t think he can help himself." The Jolteon added in a whisper that only Eve was meant to hear.

"So, what`s next?" Eve asked as she hopped out of the car after it stopped.

"From here, we`re walking," Gary replied as he retrieved a backpack from the trunk of the car, "and when were done walking, we should be halfway through the forest, and then we`ll take a break for the day before moving on to Viridian City." He explained.

"I thought we were heading to Pewter City." Eve commented.

"We are," Gary reassured the Eevee, "but Pewter City is a long ways away, and Viridian City is between us and our destination." He explained as he retrieved a small backpack for Drowser.

"Why aren`t we driving the whole way? Surely, this 'car' thing could get us there." Eve asked.

"It could, but Parlin has people watching for anyone that attempts follow him, so we can`t use the car, it`s too obvious." Gary replied.

"Why would it matter if Parlin saw us?" Eve asked.

"Because if he saw us, he would run away." Victor explained.

"Ohh, I get it," Eve exclaimed, "so, in this case, Parlin is like a Pidgey." She said aloud, but mostly for her own benefit.

"Exactly, but only if that Pidgey had a bazooka." Victor commented jokingly.

"Uhh, what`s a bazooka?" Eve asked.

"Not the point," Victor replied, "the point right now is the fact that we have a good deal of walking ahead of us, so we should stop wasting time and start going." He explained.

"That`s exactly right, Victor, and on that point, let`s go." Gary said aloud as he began walking towards the entrance of the forest while gesturing for the others to follow him.

Aside from the cheery looking wooden gateway at the entrance of the forest, you really could not tell where the edge of the forest truly began; the line that marked the edge of it was so blurred that the whole area seemed to be part of it, and all at the same time none of it was the forest whatsoever; until you delved further in, then it was readily apparent that you were inside, and with no discernible way out, save for the soft and well-walked path beneath your feet.

Even Eve, who lived in a forest all of her life, was beginning to worry about what lurked in the ever deepening shadows that lined the boundaries of the narrow path.

"Now, as we travel through to the other side, I want all of us to stick together, especially at night," Gary explained to the three Pokémon, "this forest is home to a diverse population of predator Pokémon, but the majority of the deadlier specie are largely nocturnal, meaning that they become active hunters only at night." He explained.

Eve did not need an explanation; she already knew the dangers of the forest as well as every other forest Pokémon.

"Oi, my legs are killing me; how much longer till we reach the other side of this thing, anyway?" Drowser complained as he plodded along in a falsely exhausted walk.

"The forest isn`t all that big; we should make it to the other side sometime in the early next morning," Gary replied, "but we`ll never make it to the other side if you keep complaining." He commented.

"Are we at least going to rest at some point?" Drowser whined.

"Gary and I discussed that, and we both decided that we`ll have the group take a breather for a few hours about halfway through the forest." Victor replied in an annoyed tone.

"Umm, that`s a bad idea." Eve mentioned.

"What is it, Eve?" Gary asked her.

"Well, the big thing is that if we`re resting halfway through the forest, then that would mean that we would be really close to the biggest trees in the forest, and I know for a fact that Spinarak and Ariados like to hang out in big trees along with a Noctowl or two." Eve explained in reply.

"Hmm, we didn`t think about that…" Gary remarked, "what would you suggest?" He asked the Eevee.

"I for one would keep walking for a little while, then rest up before we reach the big trees and then continue on the rest of the way without stopping anywhere near the middle of the forest. " Eve replied.

"Ok then, Eve, we`ll rest in an area that you feel is safe enough to rest in, but you have to let us know where that is when we reach it, ok?" Gary said to Eve.

"Alright, sounds good." Eve replied.

The Professor and the three Pokémon continued onward for about three hours, before Victor broke the silence, "Hey, Eve, what is it like to live in the forest?" He asked in a lowered tone so as to not get the other two in the conversation.

"Why are you asking me? You`re a Pokémon, you should know all about it." Eve asked Victor in reply.

"Well, I was rescued by Gary`s dad when I was just a cub, so I`ve only ever lived with humans my whole life, and up till now I never found a Pokémon that was willing to talk about life in the forest; all the other Pokémon I`ve met were either too focused on something else or too churlish to talk about it." Victor explained.

"'Churlish', what does that mean?" Eve asked laughingly.

"It`s an older word; it means rude or surly." Victor replied.

"Well, I can say for a fact that I`m not rude at all," Eve stated, "and as for your question, I can only say that it really depends on the weather." She said.

"How so?" Victor asked.

"Well, if it`s sunny out on a spring day like today, then everything is just fine; not too cold and wet, not too hot and dry, and there`s plenty of food around to hunt and gather, that`s a nice day," Eve replied, "but when it gets cold or a drought comes along, or whatever upsets that balance that makes a nice day, then it really sucks to be outside on that day; that`s why I make a den to stay in and wait out days like that." Eve continued.

"Huh, I never thought about that, I always looked at being outside with a kind of polarized opinion; you know, either it was totally bad or a complete paradise, but never like that," Victor remarked, "living in the wild sounds just like living in the city, those have their good and bad days to." He added.

"I noticed that myself," Eve said, "in many ways the city and the forest are similar, like they`re on two sides of the same river." She remarked.

"I didn`t know you were that insightful, Eve." Victor commented.

As if on cue, the forest around them brightened a bit and seemed to look less intimidating; a graceful, curving river brushed the side of the path ahead that was so clean as to be absolutely transparent; lending the scene an idyllic beauty that defied all description.

"Hey Eve, is this a good spot to rest?" Drowser asked when he saw the beautiful riverside.

"Yeah, this is a good spot, but only as long as we don`t sleep under the trees that are nearest to the river." Eve replied.

"While I`m not going to sleep in a tree anytime soon, I`m a bit curious as to why you suggested that we don`t." Gary commented.

"Well, there`s actually two reasons," Eve replied to Gary, "for one, there`s the fact that the river often floods the den nearest to it whenever it rains, and you don`t want to be in that; the other thing is that Paras and Parasect often come and take the dens for themselves, and you really don`t want to deal with one of them." She explained.

"With the levels of poison I`ve seen from them, I would have to agree with you, Eve," Gary remarked, "where would you suggest we set up the tent then?" He asked her.

"Let`s see…" Eve said as she looked around for a good spot to rest, "you said something about setting up a 'tent', umm, what`s a tent?" She asked.

"That would be this," Gary replied as he removed a fabric roll from his backpack, "it can unroll and act as a cover that blocks the rain and wind, like a lightweight and portable den." He explained.

Eve looked around for a moment longer before asking Gary, "Um… can a tent be set up at the top of a hill?"

"Why, yes, certainly, it sits on the ground." Gary replied.

"Ok then…" Eve mumbled to herself as she walked over to a nearby hill and looked around, "yeah, this spot up here is perfect for your tent thingy, the ground is soft, it`s got a clear vantage of the forest and there`s no chance of the river washing up on us either." She shouted to the other three from atop the hill.

"Well, then, I guess I should get the tent set up." Gary said as he climbed the hill.

"Yeah, and could you hurry up about it? I`m tired." Drowser commented from the bottom of the hill.

"Don`t you worry, this won`t take very long at all," Gary said to the Drowsee, "especially since you`ve graciously volunteered to help me set it up." He added.

"What?, No, I`m not doing that, why don`t these other two help out?" Drowser asked in a complaining voice.

"Because you`re the only one here besides me with opposable thumbs," Gary replied, "so stop giving excuses and help out; the sooner this is finished, the sooner you can rest." He stated firmly.

"Fine." Drowser said as he started climbing up the hill.

The Professor and the Drowsee began setting up the tent, and after about fifteen minutes, a dark-blue fabric pyramid was standing on the top of the hill alongside a metal cooktop that Gary was working on.

"Alright, that`s all set up," Gary said as he stepped back from the cooktop while brushing his hands off, "so, as per Eve`s suggestion, we`ll rest here until the afternoon, and then we`ll walk through the night until we get past the middle of the forest and then rest again at the other side of the middle until daybreak; from there, we`ll continue on to the city." He explained.

The four of them ate some food that Gary cooked, –needless to say, Eve had a lot of questions about the cooking process- and then they rested; Gary and Victor went to sleep in the spacious tent while Drowser finished off the rest of the non-meat food before going into the tent to sleep as well.

Eve herself, however, was too awake to sleep, and she decided to sit on a rock near the shore of the river and ponder the recent events.

As she sat there staring at the light glistening off the water, Eve`s thoughts drifted to the days before Eric was captured, "It seems so long now." Eve remarked aloud.

But Eve`s pondering was cut short by a rustling sound coming from the other side of the river.

Eve quick ducked behind the rock she was sitting on to avoid being seen by the noisemaker.

Just as Eve made it safely out of sight, a bush parted as a blue-haired woman in her thirties struggled to finally free herself from the thick underbrush.

" _What the- that`s Gobel`s trainer, what`s she doing here?_ " Eve thought, " _Is she crying?_ " she thought when she noticed the woman`s reddened eyes and tear-streaked face.

"Oh, dammit, where`d he go…" The woman muttered to herself after she pulled her leg from the bush, "Professor Oak, you out here?!" She shouted.

" _I`ve got to warn Gary._ " Eve thought as she snuck away from behind the rock and over to where the Professor was sleeping.

"Gary, wake up, Gobel`s trainer is here looking for you!" Eve shouted as she burst into the tent.

"Wazza, what`s going on?!" Gary exclaimed sleepily as he sat up in a groggy panic.

"Gobel`s trainer is here looking for you!" Eve enunciated.

Gary took off his eye cover and wiped his face in an attempt to wake up a bit before saying, "Hold on, I can`t understand you… hey, Drowser, wake up." He said to the Drowsee that was sleeping off his meal at the back of the tent.

"Oh, come on, I just laid down." Drowser complained.

"I don`t need you to do anything hard, just translate for me and Eve." Gary said in reply to the Drowsee`s complaints; the Professor was now a bit more awake at this point.

In response, Drowser grunted and a purple light illuminated to back of the tent for a quick second, and then Gary said, "Ok, I can understand you now, Eve; what was it that you were saying?"

Before Eve could say anything, she was interrupted by a distant voice, "Professor Oak, where are you?!" Shouted the voice.

Upon hearing this, Gary immediately woke up the rest of the way and got out of the tent, followed by the three Pokémon.

"That`s Jenny," Gary exclaimed when he saw the voice`s owner, "what`s she doing all the way out here?" he asked no one in particular.

"She`s looking around for you; she`s also Gobel`s trainer." Eve replied to Gary.

"I know she`s Gobel`s owner, but why woul- oh… I know why she`s here." Gary said; at the last part of his sentence, his voice gained a bit of a sullen tone, but not enough to notice unless you were looking for it.

Gary made his way down the hillside and towards Jenny, who was still looking around for the Professor, "Hey, I`m over here!" Gary called to her.

When she heard the Professor, Jenny, turned and saw him and then made her way up the hill towards the four travelers.

"Ok, thank goodness I found you," Jenny exclaimed when she came within speaking distance of the Professor, "I need to ask you about Gobel; he was taken the day before yesterday for power-level testing, and I haven`t heard anything since!" She explained breathlessly.

"I`m sorry, Jenny," Gary replied, "Gobel tested at a level that was too high for your badge, and he was sent to the CPPS to be euthanized, but-"

Upon hearing the word 'euthanized', Jenny grabbed Gary by the lapels and shoved him against a nearby tree, much to the surprise of all who saw, "How could you?! How could you do that to Gobel?! You could`ve helped him! How could you do that to my Gobel!" Jenny growled as she lifted Gary off of his feet, threatening to choke the life out of him entirely.

To be continued…


	7. Finding the City

"How could you give my Arcanine to those monsters?! You know what they do there, you know that!" Officer Jenny roared as she crushed Gary up against the tree; her eyes were filled with a manic mixture of grief and rage, like a mother bear that just had her cub taken away from her.

"I`m sorry, Parlin showed up, and he threatened Victor, there was nothing I could do!" Gary replied with what little breath he could garner as Jenny pushed him harder against the tree.

"I don`t care, he was my baby!" Jenny roared as she continued to squeeze the air out of Gary.

"Jenny, let him go or I`ll barbecue you!" Victor shouted; the fur on his back standing up with angry sharpness; arcs of electricity coursed amidst them.

Upon hearing this, Jenny`s grip on Gary loosened a bit and she turned to see who was talking, "You just talked," She said when she saw the Jolteon, "why the hell are you talking?!" She asked with a waver of terror in her voice.

"I not going to tell you why, but if you don`t let Gary go, I`ll do a whole lot more than talk." Victor replied with a threatening growl; the electricity on his back glowing brighter.

"Jenny, I can explain." Gary managed to say, despite his inability to breathe.

Jenny released her grip on Gary completely and stepped back a few steps; leaving the Professor to slump to the ground and catch his breath. The look on her face spoke of a paralyzing conflict between fight or flight.

After he caught his breath, Gary stood up and explained, "Victor isn`t actually talking, in reality this Drowsee here is acting as a Psychic translator," Gary said as he cleared his throat, "as for Gobel, yes he was sent to the CPPS, but these Pokémon and I are heading to Viridian City in order to steal him back from Parlin before he makes it to the facility." He added while giving Victor a hand-signal to stand down. The Jolteon obeyed and sat down, but still kept a wary eye on the blue-haired officer.

"Really, you`re doing that?" Jenny asked; her face seemed to relax a bit, "I thought that it was a lost cause after the Pokéball gets put into the transport." She remarked.

"That would normally be the case, but this time Parlin was the one that picked up Gobel, and I know that he likes to take his time when traveling across the region and that he usually stays at the Venomoth hotel," Gary replied, "while he`s staying there, Gobel will be left relatively unguarded, and that will be our window of opportunity." He explained.

"How are you planning on doing that? Those agents aren`t going to just let you take him." Jenny asked.

"That`s why I`m here." Eve replied.

"Umm, you`re just an Eevee; how are you a trump card?" Jenny asked.

In answer to Jenny`s question, Gary, Victor and Eve explained Eve`s abilities to her, especially the fact that her evolved forms are far stronger than an ordinary Eevee`s as well as their plan to rescue Gobel. (Drowser sat nearby playing translator and eating a head of lettuce.)

"So, what you`re telling me is that Eve here can evolve and unevolve, and that she was the Jolteon that fought Gobel the day before yesterday," Jenny remarked, though mostly to herself.

"Exactly, and if Parlin and his agents catch us, Eve will be our best chance of escaping." Gary explained.

"That`s actually a well thought-out plan," Jenny commented, "can I help?" She asked the Professor.

"Your help would be most welcome." Gary replied.

"Ok, thank you, so what`s next?" Jenny asked.

"Well, for now, we were resting until nightfall so we don`t have to rest in the middle of this forest as we make our way to Viridian City." Victor replied.

"Why wouldn`t we want to do that?" Jenny asked quizzically.

"Spinarak." Eve replied simply.

"Oh, right, those…" Jenny said with a shudder, "but why would you stop halfway? It sounds like we would be better off walking non-stop the whole way through." The officer remarked.

"Yeesh, I am definitely not walking that far in one sitting." Drowser commented as he finished off the head of lettuce.

"Tch, you don`t walk anywhere!" Victor chided the Drowsee.

"Yeah, like you`ve got anything to say, all you Electric types run around so much that you probably walk in your sleep." Drowser commented with a nasty tone.

This sparked yet another argument between the two Pokémon that ran for only so long before Gary had enough, "Alright you two, quit it!" He demanded as he stepped in between the two belligerents.

But this only served to pull Gary into the argument, which now consisted of both of the Pokémon telling Gary to tell the other to shut up.

Jenny was watching this whole argument with confusion, "Are they always like this?" She asked Gary.

"Yeah, from the looks of it, they are." Eve replied, as Gary was too occupied to hear the question.

"How long will this go?" Jenny asked.

"I don`t really know these guys, but I`m pretty sure that this might take a few minutes." Eve replied with a sigh.

"Well, that`s a few minutes too long…" Jenny commented as she retrieved a silver whistle from her pocket.

The officer turned a dial on the side of it before taking a deep breath and breathing into the whistle, producing a piercing sound that reverberated through Eve`s skull.

The loud and sudden noise stopped the arguers in their tracks, and they all turned to see Jenny standing there with a stern look on her face, "That`s enough, you three," Jenny stated, "now I know that you`re doing this whole thing to get my Arcanine back, but that`s no excuse to act like that." She said.

"Oh, sorry, I was trying to get them to stop, but I guess I got carried away." Gary said apologetically.

"There`s no need for that," Jenny replied, "what we need to do, however, is to start getting through this forest as soon as possible; we`ve got a bit of a hike ahead of us." She mentioned.

"I agree," Gary said, "but Drowser`s complaint about walking too far does have some merit." He mentioned back.

"Why can`t we just leave him here?" Jenny asked; causing the Drowsee to exclaim in protest.

"Actually, we need him; you see, Drowser here is our translator, without him, we would be unable to talk to Eve or Victor." Gary replied while gesturing to the Drowsee.

"You know, I would have no problem sitting in a Pokéball if it meant not having to walk all that way," Drowser commented, "I can still translate while I`m in there." He added.

"You sure you`re ok with that, Drowser? I know how you feel about being inside one." Gary asked the Drowsee.

"Yeah, I`ll be fine, just don`t leave me in there too long; I need to eat, you know." Drowser replied.

"Ok then…" Gary said as he produced a Pokéball from his coat pocket. The professor pressed the Pokéball`s silver button and pointed it at the Drowsee; the Pokéball opened and a red beam of light came out of the opening that enveloped Drowser for a moment before causing him to disappear. The light promptly receded back into the Pokéball.

"Ok then, now we need to roll up the tent before we can go." Gary said as he put the now closed Pokéball back into his pocket.

About an hour later, after they put the tent and other accoutrements back where they belonged, the group continued on their way through the forest. The party was surprisingly high-spirited as they made their way deeper into the forest, despite the nature of their trip.

"Ok, everyone, remember: when we reach the center of the forest, we need to stay together," Gary said to the group, "even though the majority of the predatory Pokémon in this forest are nocturnal, there are a few that hunt during the day." He explained.

When she heard Gary say this, Jenny laughed a little.

"What`s so funny?" Gary asked the blue-haired officer.

"It`s nothing…" Jenny replied with a suppressed snicker.

"Oh, come on, what`s the joke? Tell us." Eve asked, as she became curious.

"Well, it`s just that Mr. Oak just now sounded just like the host of that really old TV show: Bill the Pokémon Guy." Jenny replied laughingly.

"Now that just makes me feel really old..." Gary said.

"Well you are kind of old, you know." Victor commented with a laugh.

"So are you." Gary remarked.

At this, the whole group laughed merrily as the continued to venture deeper into the rich green forest. Like a cloth on a loom, the branches and leaves that composed the canopy above them wove among themselves more and more, each new leafy thread catching another ray of light and preventing it from reaching the travelers below; making the whole the surrounding area darker and darker, until even the bravest among them was starting to imagine figures darting around just out of sight with unknown intentions behind their occluded eyes.

"Sure is getting dark out here." Eve commented. Her comment was indeed true, as she could barely even see Victor, who was standing right next to her; it was as if some prankster had gone and blindfolded her without her even noticing.

"Hold on, I think I still have a flashlight on my belt..." Jenny said. Eve heard rustling sounds coming from the officer`s direction. She then heard a clicking noise and the forest was suddenly illuminated by an item in Jenny`s hand.

However, before Eve could enjoy the fact that she could now see again, the whole group was startled by a hulking insectoid figure looming over them.

"This is my tree." Hissed the dark blue figure; its bright yellow eyes were staring at the group menacingly, and its horn made it look even taller than it already was.

"Ohhh… dear; that`s a Heracross, everyone," Gary said to the others with a panicky voice that was barely above a whisper, "let`s just step back slowly, and it might not charge us…" He suggested.

The group was following Gary`s suggestion and stepping backwards ever so slowly, but then Gary`s watch exacerbated the issue, "Heracross: the horned beetle Pokémon. This Pokémon-" It began to chirp, but Gary hastily fumbled with its controls and shut it off.

However, the damage was already done, "This is my TREE!" Roared the now enraged beetle Pokémon as it charged forward; its horn was glowing brightly as the group dodged out of the way of its powerful attack.

"Victor, quick, use Thunder Bolt!" Gary ordered his Jolteon as he himself scrambled to his feet.

Victor was about to obey the order, but he was shoved aside by the Heracross as it thrashed around, and landed harshly on the forest floor.

"Victor, you alright!?" Gary called out to his Pokémon.

"I`m fine…" Victor replied as he got back on his feet, "just ticked off." He remarked.

Victor charged up his attack again, but this time he was allowed to fire. The Heracross did not notice Victor`s Thunder Bolt until it was greeted by its powerful shock; sending the large beetle Pokémon flying backwards and almost on top of Eve and Jenny, both of whom were still trying to figure out where everything was amidst the darkness and chaos.

"Gary, Victor, Jenny, where are you!?" Eve called out as she looked around for anyone else from the group or at least some semblance of light. She saw a quick flash of everyone when Victor used his attack, but now there was no light at all, save for the flashlight that was laying on the ground nearby, although it was pointing in a markedly unhelpful direction.

Then Eve saw the flashlight jostle around, lift off of the ground and start to move. Eve instantly recognized the fact that Jenny was the one holding it, and she carefully made her way to the officer and the light she was holding, "Eve, where are the others?" The officer asked the Eevee when she noticed her.

"We`re over here!" Gary replied in answer to Jenny`s question as he and Victor came into view: they both had a panicked look in their eyes.

"Are you all alright?" Jenny asked them.

"Yeah, but not for long if we don`t get out of here!" The professor replied as both he and his Jolteon ran past the both of them. Eve and Jenny joined them in running.

"What are we running from!?" Eve asked as she tried to keep up the pace without tripping in the dark.

"A whole bunch more Heracross; I think we wandered into their territory!" Gary replied.

"Are we even running in the right direction!?" Jenny asked.

"Not an issue," Victor replied, "just run!"

Then Eve heard several voices shouting things like "Stay away from our trees!" and "Attack the predators!", but these distinct voices were very quickly occluded by a great deal more voices; all accompanied by an ever louder buzzing sound that was enough to obscure all other sounds save for the sound of her own pounding heart as the Eevee ran for dear life.

The forest around them gradually grew brighter as they ran, but this grace was quickly dampened by the fact that the group could now see the horde of Heracross in its entirety; each one angry enough to stomp the whole group into a mud-hole on their lonesome, "Gary, how do we get these things to stop chasing us!?" Jenny asked the professor, who was running as hard as she was.

"Just keep running!" Gary replied, "They might stop chasing us when they think we`re not a threat to their territory!" He added.

"Might!? The hell does that mean!? You`re Professor Oak, I thought you knew this stuff!" Jenny exclaimed.

"That was my dad, but now is really not the time for that!" Gary replied as he started to run a bit faster.

The four of them ran for three minutes straight, until the horde behind them finally began to slowly disperse, until the last few stragglers finally gave up the chase.

After seeing that they were no longer being pursued, the group decided to take a much needed breather.

"Ok," Gary said in between his exhausted breaths, "how bout` the next time we go through a forest, we don`t go through the center, at all." He suggested.

"Yeah, that`d be a good idea." Eve remarked.

After they had all regained their breath, Eve looked around at the somewhat brighter forest around them and asked, "Where are we?"

Upon hearing Eve`s question, Gary looked around a began to wonder the same thing. The professor pressed a button on the side of his watch and it suddenly stopped telling time and started to show a detailed map of the area, complete with a dorky looking figure to represent the holder of the watch, "Well, from the looks of it, we`re actually very near the border of Viridian City." He replied.

"Isn`t that where we were headed?" Jenny asked as she straightened her back and readjusted her disheveled outfit.

"Yep," Victor replied to her as he pulled a leafy twig out of his fur, "that`s kinda` lucky." He commented.

"Yeah, I`ll say so," Jenny commented, "how far are we from the city anyway?" She asked the professor.

"I`d say a few minutes' walk or so," Gary replied, "provided any of us still have the energy to walk." He commented as he leaned over and took a few more breaths.

Eve looked at the two humans and the Jolteon with confusion, "Why are you three so worn out? I mean, it was a bit of a run, but not all that much." She asked them while tilting her head to the side.

"I don`t know about Jenny here, but me and Victor are just a little bit too old for all this running." Gary commented.

"Yeah, and I`ve never been much of a runner myself." Jenny remarked.

"Ok, I guess that makes sense," Eve remarked, "should we take a breather for a moment longer?" She asked them.

"Actually, it would be better to continue on to the city and get to a Pokémon Center," Gary replied, "that way we can rest in comfort." He mentioned as he straightened his back and stretched his legs.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, those Pokémon Center nurses always make the best food." Victor commented.

"And what`s wrong with my cooking?" Gary asked his Jolteon.

"Nothing, except for the fact that I`m getting` tired of having Remoraid fillet every single day of the week." Victor replied frankly.

"Hey, I know how to cook more than that!" Gary complained.

"Could`ve fooled me…" Victor commented as he started to walk with Jenny and Eve, both of whom had already begun making their way in the direction of Viridian City.

The four travelers walked for a few minutes before finally reaching a sign to the side of the path that read "Welcome to Viridian City! The biggest little city you`ve ever laid eyes on!"

Beyond the sign was the city in all its unreal enormity. Thousands of buildings populated the horizon beyond the sign, and with no edge in sight. The buildings themselves were packed in so densely that one had a hard time telling where which one ended and next began; the only exceptions to this were the hair-thin roads that ran through the massive city, like blood vessels through which cars and pedestrians coursed like blood cells; all going about their business with a similar mindset to their appearance.

"Wow, this is huge!" Eve exclaimed when she saw the steel, concrete and asphalt behemoth that filled the horizon before her, her eyes wide with wonder.

"Yeah, that`s the same reaction that I gave when I saw it for the first time, and that was before it got even this big." Victor remarked as he walked up next to Eve.

"Did humans build all this?" Eve asked.

"Yep, but they did get a lot of help from Pokémon." Victor replied.

Then Eve noticed a building that stood out from all the rest; it was a cubic structure with a richly designed façade and a massive glass dome gracing the top of it that looked a lot like a Pokéball with its button pointed upwards, "What`s that building?" Eve asked Victor while pointing to the odd looking structure.

"Oh that?" Victor replied, "Yeah, that`s Victory Stadium," He explained, but his tone was filled with dismissal.

"Oh yeah, I`ve heard of that place," Jenny exclaimed when she caught sight of the stadium, "I used to watch all of the battles that were aired from there; supposedly it was built by Kanto`s reigning champion to celebrate his victory and to be a custom battle ground for defending his title." She explained.

"Yeah, but he lost his little title before the stadium was completed, so he never got to use it." Gary interjected.

"Wow, you really know your stuff, Mr. Oak, there aren`t many people that know that little tidbit of history." Jenny remarked when she heard Gary`s comment.

"Yeah, I would hope so, if everyone knew, then the money I spent to cover it all up would have all gone to waste." Gary remarked.

"Ok, now I`m confused, why would you want to cover that up? You`re not involved in anything seedy with that stadium, are you?" Jenny inquired with a suspicious look in her eye.

"Nah, there`s nothing seedy to worry about, just embarrassment." Victor replied in place of his trainer.

"What do you mean?" Eve asked.

"Never mind that, we have other things to do." Gary said rudely as he began to briskly make his way along the path and into the city.

"Hey, what`s wrong, come on, tell us!" Eve called after the professor, who was now some ways away.

"Nope, that`s not a question I`m going to answer!" Gary replied as he kept walking away.

"Yeah, it`s a real sore issue for him, Eve," Victor said, "it might be better if you just let that one go for now, some people don`t like bringing up their mistakes." He added in as sagely a voice as he could muster.

"Well, you were there, could you tell me what happened?" Eve asked the Jolteon.

"Never mind that, we have other things to do…" Victor said while doing exactly what his owner did no more than a minute ago.

"What`s up with them?" Jenny asked Eve when she saw the professor and the Jolteon walking away.

"No idea." Eve replied.

The officer and the Eevee ran to catch up with the other two travelers and all four of them continued on to the entrance to the city.

When they reached the entrance, the group was confronted by an intimidating archway that was coupled with two equally intimidating guard posts on either side of it. Next to one the kiosks was a sign that read "Please make sure to present ID to the guards before passing." Below that sign was another that read "No unregistered Pokémon allowed beyond this point! _**All**_ unregistered Pokémon will be _confiscated_! -CPPS"

When he saw this, Gary hurriedly turned around and kneeled down in front of Eve while retrieving a black plastic square from his coat pocket, "Ok, Eve, I need to put this on you before we can go any further." The professor said he reach to place the plastic square on the back of her neck taking a quick look over his shoulder to see of the distant guards had seen them.

Eve reflexively stepped back, "Why, what is it?" She asked apprehensively.

"It`s a counterfeit Pokémon registrar code," Gary replied, "you need to have one of you`re to move through the city without being sent to a CPPS center by a catcher." He explained as he attempted to place it on her neck once more.

Eve backed away again and said "I don`t like it, it looks like it`ll chafe my skin."

"Umm, Eve, you really do need that on you," Victor said to her, "if you don`t, you`ll get caught and sent to be put down." He explained.

Then Jenny suddenly plucked the black square from Gary`s hand, regardless of the professor`s protests, "Hmm, I`ve heard of these," She remarked as she examined it, "I was part of an investigation team that handled crimes that used devices like this one; it emits the barcode signal that Pokémon are supposed to have implanted when they are registered to a trainer without having to use the equipment required to implant the real thing. Pokémon traffickers would use this to disguise their movements and smuggle wild or stolen Pokémon to their buyers." She explained.

Then the officer brought out a miniscule blue tube with a small plastic bulb on the end of it from her belt and waved it near the square. The bulb on the tiny device instantly began to glow a harsh red color that blinked just as harshly, "Yeah, just like I thought, this is fake alright." She remarked.

"So what of it`s fake? it`s not like you can say anything about it," Gary snapped at the officer defensively, "and besides, we need this to get Eve through that gate." He mentioned.

"I wasn`t going to say anything about it," Jenny replied calmly as if she had heard that kind of reply before, "but I will say that that thing won`t get you through the gate." She added.

"What, why not?!" Victor exclaimed.

"To put it simply, if my handheld detector can tell that it`s fake, then the more advanced detectors at the gate would catch you no problem." Jenny replied simply.

Upon hearing Jenny`s reply, both the professor and his Jolteon stood there in awkward silence for a moment, "Well, that makes us look stupid." Victor commented with a blank look on his face.

"Do you know of a different way to get past the gate?" Gary asked as he stood up.

"Well, if we had a genuine registrar code for Eve, then the guards would let us through no problem." Jenny replied.

"Where would we get one of those, and beyond that, how would we even know if the one we find is genuine?" Gary asked the officer.

"Well, this device of mine is designed to distinguish the real codes from the fake ones, here let me show you…" She said as she waved the little cylinder near the black square. It instantly began blinking with its harsh red light, "This is what it does when it detects a phony signal," She explained, "now here is what it does when it detects the real thing." The officer said as she waved the device near Victor; it began to glow a cool blue. Then the officer took the device and waved it near Eve while saying, "And this is what happens when it detects no sig-" The officer was cut short as the device unexpectedly began to glow blue, "Hmm, it appears that already have a register code, Eve." Jenny remarked.

"But, how?" Eve asked, "I`ve never been captured before." The Eevee remarked as she searched her memories for some notion as when this might have happened.

The rest of the group began discussing where Eve might have gotten a code, but Eve just sat there and thought, until at long last she had an epiphany, "Hey, guys, I think I figured it out." Eve said to the group.

But the three of them were too busy quarreling about the register code (Gary had at this point suggested that Drowser come out and search Eve`s memories for the answer, but the other two were arguing against this).

"Oi, you three, I`ve figured it out!" Eve shouted at the quarreling party, all of whom turned to face the Eevee when they heard her.

"Why are you shouting?" Gary asked; he was completely unaware that he and the others were ignoring the now very annoyed Eevee.

"Figured what out?" Jenny asked.

"I figured out how I got the code thingy you guys are talking about," Eve replied, "I heard you say something before about Pokémon trainers catching Pokémon, and some time later I heard you talking about how a trainer needs their Pokémon registered to them to be able to keep it," She explained. Then Eve took a breath and continued, "now, I think that I was captured before I met you, Gary; I remember fighting a Meowth that hit me with a powerful Electric type move, then after that I remember waking up in a weird den with dark shiny things along the walls of it. Now if I`m right, that was the inside of a Pokéball, correct?" She asked Gary and Victor.

"Yeah, that sounds about right," Victor commented, "but the inside of my Pokéball is filled with all kinds a` cool stuff that Gary bought for me; it sounds like you were in an unfurnished Pokéball; yeesh, that had to suck." He remarked.

"But that does mean that you were indeed captured." Gary added.

"And that in turn means we can get past the gate." Jenny exclaimed with a snap of her fingers.

"But, I don`t want to have a register code, it feels like I`m owned by someone." Eve complained.

"Well, in an ordinary situation, that would be the case, but I think you`re quite the exception," Victor commented, "I really don`t think that there are many trainers that even have a badge level that can legally hold you under their ownership, least-ways not when you were a Jolteon." He added.

"Ok, I guess, but is there a way to get rid of this code thingy?" Eve asked.

"Honestly, the only real way to get that code off of you is to have the trainer that owns you take the code off themselves," Gary replied while scratching his head, "but why would you get rid it? It really doesn`t change anything on you." He asked her.

"Well, I guess it doesn`t, but it`s still so disconcerting..." Eve replied.

"Regardless of how weird it is for you, it`s still very lucky for us." Jenny mentioned; interrupting Eve.

"Um, on that issue, shouldn`t we be making our way through the gate, I mean, we are kinda` wasting time a bit by standing around here." Victor mentioned motioning for the nearby gateway to the city.

With that, the four of them made their way to the large city gateway, making sure to ditch the fake code device before they reached the gate. When he saw them, a guard stepped out of one of the kiosks and towards them, "Name and ID." The short, old and somewhat fat guard said with a note of boredom, his gray uniform was rumpled and disheveled as he yawned and brushed a few chip crumbs off of it with a lazy wipe of his hand.

Jenny retrieved a card from her pocket and showed it to the guard, who then gave a lazy grunt of approval before motioning for Gary to show his ID. The professor then pressed a button on his watch and showed the resulting image to the guard, "Oh, one a` those Pokedex watches," The guard remarked when he saw this, "figures a fancy shmancy Professor would have one of those," The guard commented, "these two yours?" He asked Gary while gesturing towards Victor and Eve.

"The Jolteon is mine, but I`m taking care of this Eevee with her trainer`s permission." Gary replied.

"Ok, go on and step through the scanner." The guard said with a yawn.

Jenny was the first to step through, the scanner gave no reaction as she left the other side if it and waved for the other three to come through.

Then Gary and Victor stepped through, the scanner glowed a cool blue when the two of them reached the center of it, and the guard subsequently gave them an approving hand gesture and let them continue on.

Eve stepped through right after the professor, but before she made it to the intimidating metal panels lining the center of the large and sterile looking scanner she hesitated for a moment, "Don`t worry, Eve, there`s nothing to worry about." Victor called to the Eevee with a reassuring tone.

Eve took a breath and thought, _"Well, if I get caught, then that`s just that, I guess."_ She started forwards and almost ran through the scanner if it weren`t for her desire to appear calm.

When she passed through the center of the scanner, it immediately began to glow the cool blue of a genuine code, she made it.

The hustle and bustle of Viridian City was now before them, as well as the trials that come with.

To be continued...


	8. Viridian City: Part 1

Chapter Eight.

The two humans and the two Pokemon made their way through the positively over-populated streets of Veridian city as they made their way to the Pokemon Center. The road signs and advertisements above them glared with neon colors in the late afternoon shadows of the towering structures around them, each one either telling where they were or where the sign wanted them to go.

Eve thought it odd that the sun could come in so many colors and be shaped so strangely, but she figured that humans built these pieces of sunlight just like they built the odd dens around them.

"Hey, Victor?" Eve asked the Jolteon that was walking beside her.

"What is it, Eve?" Victor asked in reply.

"Did humans make the Sun?" Eve asked back.

"What, no, they didn`t build the Sun," Victor replied with a laugh, "why would you ask a question like that?" He asked.

"Well, it`s just that all these lights around here, and the lights back in the other city, they all look like the Sun, and you said that humans built them all, so I figured-" Eve began to reply.

"You figured that if they built these lights, they must`ve built that light up there," Victor interjected, "yeah, that was my first thought when I was younger, but Gary told me that humans like imitating the things they see and hear," He remarked, "and that everything they`ve built is actually a replica of something in nature." He added as he stepped around a pedestrian that was too busy looking at his phone to notice the Jolteon.

Then Victor noticed that Eve`s face was that of someone confused. "Ok, here`s an example," He said, "you see these buildings?" He asked rhetorically with a paw gesturing to the towering structures that lined the streets and roads, "they're all imitations of trees." He explained.

"So, then that would mean that these lights are imitations of the Sun?" Eve asked.

"Yeah, you've got it now," Victor replied with a congratulatory tone, "and if you look, you`ll see that nearly everything in this city is an imitation of something from nature, albeit improved and shaped to their needs, of course." He added.

"What about Pokeballs, what`d they get imitated from?" Eve asked.

"Now I said 'nearly', didn`t I?" Victor mentioned in reply, "Some of the things that humans end up making aren`t from nature at all, like for instance, these things." He said with a paw pointed towards the many dozens of cars and taxis that sped along the road beside them, "there`s nothing in nature that`s quite like a vehicle, unless you`ve seen anything in the forest." He explained.

"No, I can`t say that I have seen anything in my forest that`s like a car," Eve remarked, "then, if there are things that humans can build that aren`t in nature, are there things in nature that humans can`t build?" Eve inquired.

"I don`t know, I haven`t been in nature long enough to get a good grasp of what it holds," Victor replied, "but then again, there might not be anything that humans can`t mimic; that might even be their special ability: mimicry."

"So, are they all like Dittos then?" Eve asked.

"What? No, no, they`re not like Dittos," Victor replied as he pushed away the sudden and markedly amusing thought of everyone with a Ditto replacing their heads, "you, see, Dittos change their bodies to suit their environment, for instance, changing into a rock to avoid getting eaten," He elaborated, "but a human, however, changes their environment to suit themselves."

"Oh, I get it, like that 'air conditioning' thingy that you told me about earlier," Eve remarked, "you know, that still confuses me, how can you change the air anyway? I thought the wind does as it pleases, unless you were a bird, that is." She asked.

"Well, I`m still not sure exactly how, but humans did it, and they`ve done quite a few other things too that I still can`t wrap my head around." Victor replied as the group came to a stop at a road crossing.

"Ok, you two, the Pokecenter is just past the crossing and around that corner." Gary mentioned to Eve and Victor while pointing to the far side of a building across the street.

"Hey, when are these 'cars' going to stop getting in the way, Gary?" Eve asked the professor.

"It won`t take very long. You see that light on that post across the street?" He said while gesturing to the crossing sign on the other side of the road with an orange light shining from a device hanging on it. "When that turns white, that the cars will stop and we`ll be able to cross." He explained.

"Ok." She said, but Gary didn`t hear her over the sound of a large blue semi-truck passing by.

"Hey, the light`s white, let`s go." Gary mentioned to the two as he gestured for them to cross the road. Victor crossed the road with no hesitation, he`d done this before, but Eve held back and wondered what to do, "Come on Eve, we don`t want to be stuck here any longer." The professor said to the Eevee as he ushered her to cross the road.

As she made her way across the street, Eve was a bit apprehensive, the asphalt she was walking on just had dozens of cars speeding along it, and she looked around warily for any more that might come up and get her while she crossed. When she reached the halfway point, the light on the other side of the road started to blink, "Hey, that`s the warning blink, hurry up and get over here!" Victor called to her from across the street. When she heard this, Eve picked up the pace and barely made it to the other side before the light changed back, allowing the waiting vehicles to continue as they suddenly jolted back to life and resumed their merry way.

"Hey, you alright, Eve?" Jenny asked the Eevee.

"Y-yeah, I`m ok." Eve replied shakily.

"First time crossing a road?" Gary asked her with a note of concern.

"No, I`ve crossed a road before, but not one with cars on it." Eve replied.

"Yeah, you`ll get the hang of it later, Eve, crossing the road is kinda dangerous, even for folks that do it all the time." Jenny said.

"Yeah, I figured that it was dangerous," Eve remarked, "so, are we heading to the Pokecenter?" She asked in an attempt to change the subject.

"Yep, it`s just on the other side of this building." Gary replied. With that the group continued onward to the other side of the building.

When they made it about halfway, they heard the sound of a lot of voices, each one trying to be louder than the others. When they rounded the corner, the source of those voices became readily apparent: a huge crowd of protesters were standing out front of the Pokecenter. There were so many people there that the road was completely blocked save for a single lane at the opposite side of the road from the Pokecenter. The people themselves carried various signs that had words on them like "No more Poke-mandering!" and "The Professors lied! Pokemon aren`t our friends!" and various other dreadful messages that I should not write here for decency`s sake.

"Ok, Gary, I`m going to need you to step back out of sight." Jenny as she suddenly began to usher Gary backwards and away from the crowd.

"What, what it is it Jenny?" Gary asked the officer.

"Those people over there are part of the 'Free-all-Pokemon' group." Jenny explained.

"Huh, that doesn`t sound so bad," Eve remarked, "it sounds kinda` like what we`re doing."

"Oh, no, don`t be fooled by their name, that group is about a vicious as they come," Jenny explained, "they`ve done quite a bit of damage to a lot of people, and there are rumors that the`ve even killed people, but only rumors."

"What do they want?" Gary asked as he straitened his lab coat.

Before Jenny could reply, the conversation was interrupted by the squealing of a megaphone from around the corner. "You all know why we`re here!" Spoke the amplified voice. "You all know why we`ve gathered in front of the heart of Viridian`s parasite!" These words were greeted by a roar from the crowd before the voice continued. "For generations, they`ve lied to us, they`ve lied to our children. Telling them that it is okay to pull the creatures of the wild from their homes, and to make them our friends, but that was all a lie to keep us under their control," Said the voice, "and you know who they are? The Professors!"

"What, that`s not what we were doing, we weren`t controlling anyone!" Gary exclaimed, though his voice was drowned out by the latest roar from the crowd. He tried to move forwards, but Jenny pulled him back around the corner.

"Don`t." Jenny said. Her face had a protector`s determination about it.

The voice on the megaphone continued giving its dreadful message. While the group listened on just out of sight. "Ok, Mr. Oak, I`m going to need you to get that coat off." Jenny said to the professor as the crowd gave another roar in response to the speaker.

"Why would I do that?" Gary asked.

"Because those people don`t like professors, and that coat is a symbol of them, so if you take it off and keep your mouth shut, they won`t know who you are." She replied.

"But why wouldn`t we want them to know who Gary is? He could just tell them the truth and they`ll understand, won't they?" Eve asked the Officer.

"It doesn`t work that way, Eve," Victor replied for Jenny, "when humans get worked up they tend to ignore even the wisest among them, no matter what they say." He explained.

"They`re not that worked up-" Eve began to say, but she was interrupted by someone in the crowd screaming "Death to the Professors!" at the top of their lungs.

When he heard this, Gary paused for a moment before saying, "Yeah, let's get this lab coat off, now." In a frightened voice. The professor hurriedly removed his lab coat and handed it to Jenny; who immediately rolled it up and stuffed it into Gary's backpack. "Hey, be careful with that, you have no idea how expensive that is." The professor exclaimed when he saw how roughly Jenny shoved the coat in the pack.

"Yeah, just deal with it right now, it's better that it gets a little wrinkled instead of getting you killed." Jenny mentioned as she pulled the zipper on the backpack.

"So, um, what do we do now?" Victor asked. The confused look on his face was accompanied by a similar look on everyone else's face except for the officer.

"Well, the next thing to do is to get you and Eve here into Pokeballs so you can remain hidden." Jenny replied.

"What, no, I don't want to get into one of those!" Eve exclaimed when she heard this. The prospect of being back in that weird, dark room was quite unappealing to her.

"Hey, don't worry, Eve, a Pokeball isn't all that bad, at least when it's a furnished Pokeball." Victor said to her, "The ball you were in was still at its factory settings, I promise that the Pokeballs that Gary bought are much more comfortable." He assured her.

"And besides, it's better to be in one of those than to deal with those guys." Jenny mentioned with a gesture to the near manic protestors around the corner.

Eve took a quick peek at them for herself, and after seeing one of the protestors start a fire under an effigy of a Weedle, she jumped back behind the corner with a frightened yelp. "Y-yeah, I would suppose s-so." Eve stammered with a shaky voice. "Are you guys going to be alright, you know, dealing with those people over there?" She asked concernedly.

"We'll be fine, Eve, we'll just pretend like we're just passersby on our way into the Pokecenter." Gary assured the concerned Eevee as he retrieved two Pokeballs from his backpack.

"Alright, Eve, remember: when you go into a Pokeball, don't try to figure out which way the top of it is facing, you will get sick." Victor instructed Eve as he stood there and waited to be collected into the Pokeball in Gary's hand.

The professor pressed the button on the ball and just like always, a stream of red light emitted from the button and enclosed the Pokémon before retreating, leaving no trace of the Jolteon behind.

"Alright Eve, now it's your turn." Gary said as he pointed the other Pokeball at her. "Now I'll let you back out the moment we get in the center, round fifteen minutes, ok?" He reassured her.

Eve winced when the professor pressed the button, expecting some kind of painful endeavor as she was shrunk into the right size for the ball -she'd gotten herself stuck in small spaces before, and she remembered those to very painful- but when the red light enveloped her, she felt none of that. At first there was no feeling at all, as if nothing happened, but then she was washed over with the feeling that the floor gave way from underneath her, as if Gravity itself had decided to ignore her and her alone.

All sound also began to fade away, until the roar and rant of the protestors nearby, once deafening and unpleasant to the ear, finally gave way to an unsettling silence. This lack of gravity or sound persisted for what seemed like an eternity as the Eevee was converted from matter into energy and stored within the device in the professor's hand.

When the odd feeling passed, Eve found herself in a room similar to the mirrored room that was inside a Pokeball, but this time the room was covered in what appeared to be pastel pink wallpaper. A comfortable looking Pokébed was in the middle of the room with a tag on it.

Eve walked up to the Pokébed and examined the tag, an odd red circle was on it instead of letters. Largely because it looked funny, Eve tapped the circle, and was startled by Gary's voice suddenly coming from the tag.

"Hello, Eve, this is Gary." Spoke the tag.

"Really, Gary, what are you doing here, and why are you a piece of paper?" Eve asked the tag.

"Ok, now this is a recording that's been translated to Eevee by yours truly, so any questions you might have won't get answered, sorry, but I just want to let you know that I have made sure to pick out the best furnishings I could purchase for you, in case you ended up in this Pokeball for any reason." The tag continued. "I am also letting you know that you don't have to worry about getting stuck in here, I set this Pokeball to release you automatically after about five hours, so if something happens, you'll be alright. I know that if you're in this Pokeball, it's most likely because there was some reason for you to be in it, maybe you got tired, I don't know, but the point is that you have nothing to worry about when you are in here, so please just relax and rest while you're in here, ok?"

After hearing Gary's message, Eve opted to look around, as the inside of this Pokeball was much bigger than the other one.

"Huh, these humans may be freaked out all the time, but they do know how to make dens." Eve commented as she perused the furnishings, on one of the walls of the octagonal room hung a painting of an Eevee. "There's another Eevee here?!" She exclaimed.

But as Eve went to talk to the other Eevee, she noticed that it was really flat. "Oh, wait a minute, this is one of those 'picture' things that Victor told me about," She remarked, "but why would Gary put a picture of an Eevee in this room?" she wondered.

After a moment of pondering this, Eve grew bored of it, and wandered around the large room.

A while later, Eve grew really bored, and decided to go lay down. "I guess they are having a slow time of it getting around that crazy mob." She figured as she patted her Pokebed to make it softer.

"I guess I'll just wait for-" Eve began to say.

But she was startled by the entire room suddenly jostling about as if an earthquake hit it.

"What the- what's happening!?" Eve exclaimed as she was thrown out of her bed by the shaking.

Then, just as suddenly as the shaking started, it stopped, replaced by an unsettling silence.

Eve looked around, and saw that everything had calmed down, "What was that all about?" Eve asked aloud.

She got back on her feet surveyed the room for cracks, "Well, nothing's broken, I guess I should ask Gary what happened." She remarked.

"Hey, Gary, you know what all that shaking was?!" Eve called out, hoping that the professor could hear her.

But no reply.

Eve called out again, but as before, no reply.

At this point Eve began to panic, "Hey, is anyone out there!? Help!" She cried out, it did not matter who replied at this point, the frightened Eevee was now just looking for a way out of this ball.

Eve's mind raced with the scenario that she had once pictured for Hector before. "Please, somebody, let me out!" She cried once more, frantically scratching at the walls of the Pokeball in an attempt to dig her way out.

After a while of this, Eve grew weary. "Ok, ok, I just gotta calm down a bit and breathe," She said as she took a deep breath and held it for a moment. She then let it out shakily and said. "Ok, now Gary did say that this ball would let me out after a while, so I guess I need to just calm down and wait…" She assured herself.

So she sat down and waited, and waited, and waited…

After what appeared to be a few hours, Eve suddenly stood up. "How much longer till this stupid thing opens!?" She shouted.

Suddenly, in response to her demand, a section of the floor opened up to allow a perfectly round, futuristic clock on a metal stand to rise from the new hole. On the clock's face was an obvious stock picture of a Klinklang and a green neon light in place of clock hands; a one fifth wedge of the green was replaced by a neon blue.

"Huh, humans really like putting 'pictures' on things, don't they?" Eve commented when she saw the ridiculous looking device.

The Eevee walked around it once to give it a quick once-over before returning to its face. "This thing must be showing me how long it will take for the ball to open." She remarked.

Eve investigated the clock a bit closer. "Huh, now if I remember that little bit of math Victor told me about while we were in that car right, this clock is one fifth of the way done with its countdown, so that would mean…" Then she realized something. "Wait, IT"S ONLY BEEN AN HOUR!?"

Eve sat down in a huff and whined. "Oh come on, I can't believe I've only been stuck in here for a stinking hour. I want out now!" She shouted at the top of her lungs.

Just as soon as Eve said this, another thought struck her. "Wait, if I've been in here for an hour, then what happened to Gary and the others?" Eve wondered. Wonder very quickly turned to worry as dreadful scenarios raced through her mind, more than one of which involved the mob she saw earlier.

"Oh, no, what happened to them?" Eve said as her worry worsened. She paced around the room, searching for a way out of the Pokeball so she could at least know what was going on outside.

Eve searched and searched for some way out, but nothing and no way could be found. She then went back to the clock, the wedge of blue on its face was now covering two fifths of the green.

"Come on, is there some way to get out of this thing?!" Eve demanded of the inanimate object.

Suddenly, another device popped out of the floor some feet away, this one was an angled metal panel with a small speaker and red button on it, the button itself had a black imprint of an Eevee paw print embossed on the face.

Eve tentatively walked up to the new device, and just as she reached it, the speaker suddenly came online. "Hello, new resident of this fine Pokeball, and we do hope you have enjoyed staying in here up to this point." Said the device in a cheery female voice that seemed far to sweet to be genuine.

"If this button has appeared, that must mean that you want to get out of this Pokeball, but don't you worry, because if you really, really want to, just press this button and you'll be outside in a jiffy!" The device explained. "Please note that if you want to listen to this message again just press the blue button on the side or say 'Replay' to replay it!"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I don't want a replay..." Eve commented as she reached for the button.

However, in response to her words, the speaker piped up again, nearly causing Eve to jump out of her own fur.

"What the- arg, stupid thing, shut up!" Eve exclaimed when this happened, but the device did not respond to the command and continued on repeating the message.

"Ok, that's it, I'm getting out of here right now." Eve remarked as she stamped her paw on the red button.

Instantly, a multicolored light filled the room and closed around Eve, blocking all sight of the room, and the familiar weightless feeling overtook her.

The feeling disapated along with the light not a few seconds later. But when Eve vision was returned, she found herself in a trash filled alleyway, none of her newfound friends were anywhere in sight.

"Hey, guys, where you all go!?" Eve called out, but no one answered.

Eve called out again, and just as before, no one answered.

When her second call garnered no reply, Eve suddenly felt a gut wrenching feeling that she not ever felt before. "Oh, no, not again, not again..." she said as she looked round for some sign of them, and the more she could not find any trace of them, the worse the feeling in her stomach became.

"Please no, I can't deal with this again, I can't lose my friends again." Eve said with a shaky voice as she continued to look around, but this was made harder by her eyes tearing up, though whether this was due to the wrenching in her gut or from sorrow, even she did not know.

However, Eve's frantic searching was interrupted by a crashing noise at the far end of the alleyway, followed shortly by several people and Pokemon shouting curses and complaining about how they did not like being interrupted from whatever they were doing (One person even exclaimed that this made them miss their afternoon soap opera, and believe me, Eve was just as confused as you are now).

It did not take long for Eve to catch sight of the source of the commotion: Two intimidating looking fellows -a Machop and a Raticate by the looks of them- were in hot pursuit of a short bearded fellow wearing a brown fedora and a dirty gray trench-coat that completely obscured his figure.

"You're dead, thief!" Shouted the Machop as he shoved a crate out of his way, sending it flying some ten feet into the air.

Before Eve could fully grasp the situation, the chase had reached her, and the bearded fellow, who was unaware that Eve was there, tripped headlong over her and fell on his face.

"Watch where you're standing!" The fellow complained as he scrambled to his feet, his two pursuers were not far away, and they had both increased their pace to make use of this unfortunate event.

"Oh, crap, not good, see ya!" Exclaimed the fellow when he regained his footing. Without hesitation, he started running again, leaving Eve standing there, still wondering what on Earth was going on.

Eve turned back to see the fellow's two pursuers gaining fast, and the both of them had the most gnarly expressions she had ever seen. Without even considering the fact that they were not even chasing her, Eve started to run alongside the fellow (Largely to get away from those creepy faces).

The figure was not very far along, and Eve quickly caught up to him. "Hey, what are you doing!? They'll start chasing you too!" The fellow exclaimed when he noticed this.

"Why are you running?" Eve asked as she continued to keep pace with him.

Hearing her question, the fellow replied. "Well, it's really cause I did a little, oop-" The figure quickly stopped speaking and dashed ahead.

Eve tried to catch up with the fellow, but found that he was now moving too fast, and before she could try to speed up, her foot caught a pallet board and she fell head over heels into a trash bag. The fellow's two pursuers continued onward, completely ignoring her.

Eve struggled for a moment before finally freeing herself from the pile of plastic and refuse, and when she regained her footing, she realized something. "Wait, hold on, did that human just understand me?" She exclaimed.

Now intensely curious, Eve ran to catch up with the ongoing chase, well, after she shook a chip bag off her foot, that is.

It did not take her very long to overtake the fellow's two pursuers, but the man himself was just too fast for her regular speed, so after taking the obstacles into consideration, Eve used QUICK-ATTACK and launched herself forward; skidding so she could round a corner that the fellow went around.

On the other side of the corner, Eve found the fellow stuck in a dead end, the pursuers were so far behind that she could barely hear their vulgar threats.

"What that heck, are you with them?!" Exclaimed the fellow, his voice sounded old, but somehow it sounded false as well.

"No, I am not with those guys, I just want to know how you understood me." Eve replied.

At this, the fellow gave a wry laugh. "Huh, the little twerp caught that, she's got a sharp memory…" he commented under his breath.

"I also have sharp ears, so give it up: how can you understand me? I thought it was only possible with the aid of a Psychic type." Eve asked.

"Who the heck figured that? Well, whatever, I'm not tellin you, so beat it, twerp!" The fellow replied.

Eve was about to reply, but then she heard a crashing noise behind her. She turned around to see the Raticate scrambling out of a newly made dent in a dumpster, the sound of heavily thumping footsteps could be heard from outside the alleyway dead end.


End file.
